US, UK Police Identify and Charge Russian Leader of LockBit Ransomware Gang (techcrunch.com) 6
The identity of the leader of one of the most infamous ransomware groups in history has finally been revealed. From a report: On Tuesday, a coalition of law enforcement led by the U.K.'s National Crime Agency announced that Russian national, Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, 31, is the person behind the nickname LockBitSupp, the administrator and developer of the LockBit ransomware. The U.S. Department of Justice also announced the indictment of Khoroshev, accusing him of computer crimes, fraud and extortion.
"Today we are going a step further, charging the individual who we allege developed and administered this malicious cyber scheme, which has targeted over 2,000 victims and stolen more than $100 million in ransomware payments," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was quoted as saying in the announcement. According to the DOJ, Khoroshev is from Voronezh, a city in Russia around 300 miles south of Moscow. "Dmitry Khoroshev conceived, developed, and administered Lockbit, the most prolific ransomware variant and group in the world, enabling himself and his affiliates to wreak havoc and cause billions of dollars in damage to thousands of victims around the globe," said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey, where Khoroshev was indicted.
"Today we are going a step further, charging the individual who we allege developed and administered this malicious cyber scheme, which has targeted over 2,000 victims and stolen more than $100 million in ransomware payments," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was quoted as saying in the announcement. According to the DOJ, Khoroshev is from Voronezh, a city in Russia around 300 miles south of Moscow. "Dmitry Khoroshev conceived, developed, and administered Lockbit, the most prolific ransomware variant and group in the world, enabling himself and his affiliates to wreak havoc and cause billions of dollars in damage to thousands of victims around the globe," said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey, where Khoroshev was indicted.
It's a start (Score:2)
We know the U.S. nor any western country will not be able to catch this guy, but at least there is now a name and a face It's a good piece of detective work to let the Russians know their wall of security is as good as swiss cheese.
This isn't the first time someone deep within the Russian security or intelligence apparatus has been unveiled. Certainly makes them wonder who is leaking this information. Paranoia can be entertaining.
Re: (Score:2)
Just a note, indicted is not the same as convicted.
And, indicting somebody in 2024 who's been head of a large malware organization since (at least) 2020 is a pretty poor evidence for "letting the Russians know their wall of security is as good as swiss cheese."
Re: (Score:3)
If this was a security service job, then this means they've extracted all the value they could from discovering his identity.
It doesn't mean they took four years to find him, but it might mean in those four years they've traced and identified an entire network of Russian intelligence operations.
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At least it will make it that much harder for him to launder his money
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At least it will make it that much harder for him to launder his money
Not to mention go anywhere.
Anywhere that is a US ally (Thailand is particularly popular for Russian tourists) of wants to cosy up to the EU (Turkey is also popular with Russians and likes to walk a tightrope between the wealth of EU and the payoffs from Russia, but won't take a huge change in govt for that balance to tip towards the US and EU). He's pretty much stuck in Russia now, which means he's even more under the thumb of the Russian govt.