LockBit Ransoware Gang Leader Hunted by America
Morrissey Technology – The United States Ministry of Justice revealed legal charges against the big boss of the LockBit ransomware gang. According to them, LockBit is led by Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a 31-year-old man from Russia. Khoroshev is credited with making LockBit the most prolific and destructive ransomware gang in the world.
Khoroshev is thought to have been involved in LockBit since the gang first appeared in September 2019. Over the years, LockBit claims to have attacked 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries. Khoroshev and his colleagues at LockBit allegedly reaped at least USD 500 million from their ransomware ransomware.
LockBit operates with a ransomware-as-a-service model, where the LockBit ransomware can be rented or purchased by other hackers to use to attack its victims. As a result, the spread of this ransomware attack was very wide, from a large hospital in England to a small town in Canada. In February, a joint law enforcement team from America and England confiscated the site and server used by LockBit. They also even got access to keys to open files of victims held hostage.
At that time they also arrested Artur Sungatov and Ivan Kondratyev, who were accused of attacking a number of victims in America using LockBit. From all this, information was found that Khoroshev allegedly received a “tax” of 20% from every ransom received from the victim. He is also the manager of LockBit’s data leak site. Khoroshev also apparently kept all the data held hostage from the victim, even though the victim had paid the ransom FOR4D. Even though they promised to delete the data after the victim made payment.
“Today’s indictment marks an important milestone in the investigation and prosecution of LockBit, which has now led to lawsuits against five individuals associated with LockBit, two of whom are awaiting trial — and a major disruption to the operations of the now-shutdown LockBit,” US said Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.
Khoroshev faces 26 charges, which carry a sentence of up to 185 years in prison. The US government is offering a reward of USD 10 million for information that can help law enforcement arrest Khoroshev.
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