Russian professional basketball player Daniil Kasatkin was arrested in France at the request of the United States for allegedly acting as a negotiator for a ransomware gang. This description closely matches similar language used by the Department of Justice to refer to the notorious Conti ransomware gang, which emerged as a successor to Ryuk in 2020 and shut down in 2022, following a data breach. While the name of the ransomware gang was not disclosed, it is reported to have been behind attacks on more than 900 companies, including two federal agencies, between 2020 and 2022. Last month, French police also arrested four alleged operators of the BreachForums hacking forum, including threat actors using the alias IntelBroker and ShinyHunters. The arrest was made as part of a United States international arrest warrant for his role as an alleged negotiator for a ransomware gang. Lawrence Abrams Lawrence Abrams is the owner and Editor in Chief of BleepingComputer.com. Lawrence's area of expertise includes Windows, malware removal, and computer forensics. Daniil Kasatkin is a Russian basketball player who briefly played NCAA basketball at Penn State before returning to Russia in 2019. According to French media, Kasatkin was arrested at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on June 21st after landing in France with his fiancée. Lawrence Abrams is a co-author of the Winternals Defragmentation, Recovery, and Administration Field Guide and the technical editor for Rootkits for Dummies. However, it was not previously reported that Conti breached any federal agencies, though they are linked to attacks on state governments.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:30:17 +0000