US and German authorities announced today that they have dismantled one of the world’s largest ransomware attack networks, the “Hive”, which reportedly targeted 1,500 businesses and organizations in 80 countries!
US Secretary of State Merrick Garland, in the press conference he gave, said:
“Last night, the Department of Justice dismantled an international network that, using ransomware, obtained or attempted to extract millions of dollars in ransom from its victims.”
The organization’s servers were seized and federal police seized its site on the dark web, the anonymous web off-limits to ordinary users.
The operation was carried out in cooperation with the police authorities of Germany, the Netherlands and Europol, said FBI Director Christopher Ray, clarifying that the investigation is continuing and those involved in the “Hive” are at risk of arrest. Ray also urged citizens to learn the regulations surrounding classified information and handle it properly.
The “Hive” organization first appeared in June 2021 and reportedly collected more than $100 million in ransoms. Its members infiltrated information systems with illegal ransom, encrypted company data and demanded payment to unlock networks.
According to companies specializing in cyber security, the “Hive” ransomware was used against American hospitals, the German chain of electrical goods stores “Telemarkt” and the Indian car manufacturer “Tata“. Prosecutors in Stuttgart, Germany, estimate that the group is responsible for more than 1,500 attacks worldwide, 70 of which took place in Germany.
“We hacked the hackers”
Last June, the FBI managed to penetrate the “Hive” network and obtained the decryption key used by the group. In the months that followed, he gave it to hacker victims around the world, preventing a total of $130 million in ransoms from being paid, Christopher Ray said.
The federal police also gave the key to previous victims of “Hive” to recover all their data.
“Unfortunately, over the past seven months we have discovered that only 20% of “Hive” victims reported to the police,”
commented, calling on all companies, agencies and organizations to contact the authorities immediately if they experience a cyber-attack.
The Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office clarified that the authorities’ operation, code-named “Dawnbreaker”, began on the occasion of the investigation it had launched after attacks on companies in the region which “did not give in to blackmail and informed the authorities”.
“Once again, it has been shown that cooperation and mutual trust between continents is the key to effectively tackling cybercrime,”
said Udo Vogel, Reutlingen’s police chief.
“We hacked the hackers”,
US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco commented on her part.
“For months, we helped victims confront their perpetrators and deprived the network of its criminal proceeds,”
she added.
SOURCE: APE
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