FBI seizes BlackCat ransomware website, offers decryption key
Also: Ransomware gang ‘unseizes’ its site and issues new threats after FBI takedown (The Verge)
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13 hours ago - Technology
Source: Axios
FBI seizes BlackCat ransomware website, offers decryption key
Sam Sabin, author of Axios Codebook
Federal law enforcement officials announced Tuesday they had taken down the online infrastructure belonging to the BlackCat ransomware gang and offered victims a decryption key.
Why it matters: The takedown disrupts the operations of what the Justice Department believes is the "second most prolific ransomware-as-a-service variant" circulating around the world right now.
The big picture: BlackCat, also known as ALPHV or Noberus, is estimated to have targeted more than 1,000 victims since its inception more than 18 months ago, according to the DOJ.
• Federal officials also said the hacks disrupted U.S. critical infrastructure, including government facilities, emergency services, defense industrial base companies, critical manufacturing and healthcare and public health facilities.
• Some of the gang's victims have included hospitals, data storage company Western Digital and drug manufacturer Sun Pharmaceuticals.
BlackCat's ransomware is also believed to be linked to the hack on MGM Resorts earlier this year.
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Read more: https://www.axios.com/2023/12/19/blackcat-alphv-fbi-seizes-ransomware
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Related: Justice Department Disrupts Prolific ALPHV/Blackcat Ransomware Variant (U.S. Department of Justice)
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Source: The Verge
Ransomware gang ‘unseizes’ its site and issues new threats after FBI takedown
The FBI, working with international authorities, says it has offered to help decrypt data for hundreds of victims of ALPHV / Blackcat gang.
By Wes Davis
Dec 19, 2023, 6:35 PM EST
The US Justice Department (DOJ) says the FBI has created a decryption tool that helped it return the data of over 500 ransomware victims as part of a multinational law enforcement push. It also wrote that the bureau had seized “several websites” operated by the ALPHV / Blackcat ransomware gang.
However, Bleeping Computer reports that by this afternoon, ALPHV / Blackcat claimed to have regained control of its site and that the FBI only had decryption keys for 400 or so companies, leaving more than 3,000 victims whose data remains encrypted. The gang also reportedly said that it was no longer restricting affiliates using its ransomware software from attacking critical infrastructure, including hospitals and nuclear power plants.
According to the DOJ, “Over the past 18 months, ALPHV/Blackcat has emerged as the second most prolific ransomware-as-a-service variant in the world based on the hundreds of millions of dollars in ransoms paid by victims around the world.” In its model, the gang is responsible for creating and updating the ransomware, while affiliates find targets and launch the attacks, and then they split the profits.
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Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/19/24008093/alphv-blackcat-ransomware-gang-site-seized-fbi-doj
