Lockbit ransomware virus member pleads guilty in the United States! Most of the money that attracted more than 500 million US dollars was Bitcoin.

This site (120bTC.coM): The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that 21-year-old Russian citizen Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov and 31-year-old Mikhail Vasiliev, a dual citizen of Canada and Russia, have admitted to participating in the ransomware hacker group LockBit. Launches LockBit ransomware attacks against victims in the United States and globally.

The announcement pointed out that between January 2020 and February 2024, LockBit once became the most active and destructive ransomware group in the world, attacking more than 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries, including the United States. 1,800 victims, including individuals, small businesses, multinational corporations, hospitals, schools, non-profit organizations, critical infrastructure, and government and law enforcement agencies.

Profit of nearly 500 million US dollars in crypto assets, etc.

The cases between 2020 and 2023 targeted companies in Virginia, Japan, France, Scotland and Kenya. In the plea bargaining, Astamirov agreed U.S. law enforcement authorities confiscated $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin that he obtained from his victims.

The document states that LockBit members have extorted at least approximately US$500 million in ransom from victims since their crimes, mostly in the form of cryptocurrency, and caused additional losses of more than billions of US dollars to the victims.

Ransomware method

Vasiliev and Astamirov’s criminal method is to first identify and illegally access vulnerable computer systems, and then deploy LockBit ransomware on these systems to steal and encrypt stored data. When the attack is successful, , will demand a ransom from the victim in exchange for decrypting the victim’s data and deleting data backups.

If the victim does not pay the ransom, LockBit members will permanently encrypt the victim's data and publish the stolen data, including highly sensitive information, on publicly accessible websites controlled by LockBit, Vasiliev and Astamirov in 2023 and 2022, face up to 25 and 45 years in prison respectively.

Previously, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted LockBit leader and Russian citizen Dmitry Khoroshev in May on 26 counts covering fraud, extortion, etc., and required Khoroshev to give up the $100 million he received from the ransom. The U.S. State Department offered a reward of 1,000 Ten thousand dollars, seeking to bring him to justice, but he is still at large.

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