The group, responsible for the development and distribution of the Dridex (aka Bugat) malware, has been previously observed deploying LockBit and other ransomware strains in 2022 in order to get around sanctions imposed against the group in December 2019, including key members Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev. In conjunction, authorities outed a Russian national named Aleksandr Ryzhenkov (aka Beverley, Corbyn_Dallas, G, Guester, and Kotosel) as one of the high-ranking members of the Evil Corp cybercrime group, while simultaneously painting him as a LockBit affiliate. A total of 16 individuals who were part of Evil Corp have been sanctioned by the U.K. Also tracked as Gold Drake and Indrik Spider, the infamous hacking crew has been active since 2014, targeting banks and financial institutions with the ultimate goal of stealing users' credentials and financial information in order to facilitate unauthorized fund transfers. A new wave of international law enforcement actions has led to four arrests and the takedown of nine servers linked to the LockBit (aka Bitwise Spider) ransomware operation, marking the latest salvo against what was once a prolific financially motivated group. Ryzhenkov has been described by the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) as Yakubets' right-hand man, with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) accusing him of deploying BitPaymer ransomware to target victims across the country since at least June 2017. This includes the arrest of a suspected LockBit developer in France while on holiday outside of Russia, two individuals in the U.K. who allegedly supported an affiliate, and an administrator of a bulletproof hosting service in Spain used by the ransomware group, Europol said in a statement. "The United States, in close coordination with our allies and partners, including through the Counter Ransomware Initiative, will continue to expose and disrupt the criminal networks that seek personal profit from the pain and suffering of their victims," said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. "Ryzhenkov used the affiliate name Beverley, made over 60 LockBit ransomware builds and sought to extort at least $100 million from victims in ransom demands," officials said.
This Cyber News was published on thehackernews.com. Publication date: Thu, 03 Oct 2024 08:43:09 +0000