Blow against hacker group REvil
International authorities managed to strike a blow against the hacker collective REvil last week. Over several months, a total of seven suspects have been arrested in various countries.
According to a statement by Europol and Interpol, the suspected mastermind of the ransomware "REvil" was caught in an international raid. Romanian police, the U.S. Department of Justice and Europol arrested several suspected members of the hacker collective. In total, seven suspects have been arrested in different countries over several months, as Europol reports.
In July, cybercriminals managed to launch a spectacular ransomware attack against the US software company Kaseya. According to the estimates, hundreds of companies were affected worldwide. As a result, the Swedish supermarket chain Coop, for example, had to close the majority of its stores because of the failed checkout systems.
Over 200 million euros ransomware
According to Europol, two suspects were also arrested in Romania and a man in Kuwait. The gang is said to be linked to over 7000 ransomware infiltrations. In some cases, more than 200 million euros in ransom money was demanded for the extortions.
Law enforcement efforts to date have resulted in the release of three decryption tools as part of the No More Ransom project, saving more than 49,000 systems and over 60 million euros in unpaid ransom so far, according to Europol. Bitdefender and many partners have since released a range of decryption tools on the eponymous Website provided.
Source: Europol/SDA
