Ransomware drama: Law enforcement seized Lockbit group’s website again
May 05, 2024
Law enforcement seized the Lockbit group’s Tor website again and announced they will reveal more identities of its operators
Law enforcement seized the Lockbit group’s Tor website again. The authorities resumed the Lockbit seized leak site and mocked its administrators.
According to the countdown active on the seized, law enforcement that are currently controlling the website will reveal the identities of the LockBitSupps and other members of the gang on May 7, 2024, at 14:00:00 UTC.
However, researchers at VX-underground have spoken with Lockbit ransomware group administrative staff regarding the return of the old domain and the gang claims law enforcement is lying.
“I don’t understand why they’re putting on this little show. They’re clearly upset we continue to work.” Lockbit told vx-underground.
Lockbit confirmed that their operation is still active and will continue to “bring” new victims.
In February, a joint law enforcement action, code-named Operation Cronos, conducted by law enforcement agencies from 11 countries disrupted the LockBit ransomware operation.
The operation led to the arrest of two members of the ransomware gang in Poland and Ukraine and the seizure of hundreds of crypto wallets used by the group.
The British NCA took control of LockBit’s central administration environment used by the RaaS affiliates to carry out the cyberattacks. The authorities also seized the dark web Tor leak site used by the group.
The Tor leak site was seized by the NCA and was used to publish updates on the law enforcement operation and provide support to the victims of the gang.
The NCA also obtained the source code of the LockBit platform and a huge trove of information on the group’s operation, including information on affiliates and supporters.
Law enforcement also had access to data stolen from the victims of the ransomware operation, a circumstance that highlights the fact that even when a ransom is paid, the ransomware gang often fails to delete the stolen information.
The NCA and its global partners have secured over 1,000 decryption keys that will allow victims of the gang to recover their files for free. The NCA will reach out to victims based in the UK in the coming days and weeks, providing support to help them recover encrypted data.
However a few days later, the LockBit gang relaunched its RaaS operation, the group set up a new infrastructure and threatened to carry out cyber attacks on the government sector.
“Very simple, that I need to attack the .gov sector more often and more, it is after such attacks that the FBI will be forced to show me weaknesses and vulnerabilities and make me stronger. By attacking the .gov sector you can know exactly if the FBI has the ability to attack us or not.” wrote the gang.
In a few days, the gang added tens of entries to its website, but only a few of them are new victims of the group. It seems that the group is re-populating its tor leak site.
At the end of February, the gang fully recovered its operations.
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Pierluigi Paganini
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cybercrime)