Five Russian nationals charged after disruption of notorious cyber crime gang
US authorities have charged five Russian nationals after a global operation to take down an infamous cyber crime gang that holds victims' data to ransom.
Lockbit has been disrupted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and a coalition of international police agencies, including the FBI, who have taken control of the group's extortion website.
The gang and its affiliates have hacked some of the world's largest organisations, including Royal Mail, which faced severe disruption after an attack in early 2023.
Director general of the NCA Graeme Biggar announced an international law enforcement coalition of 10 countries has "hacked the hackers" and taken down a prolific ransomware site.
Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, he said Lockbit had been the most prolific ransomware group in the last four years and was behind 25% of attacks in the past year.
There were losses of billions of pounds in ransom payments and the cost of recovering data, with targets including major companies and public services including hospitals.
He said Lockbit had no direct support from the Russian state, although cyber crime is tolerated in the country.
The US authorities have brought charges against five Russian nationals, two of whom are in custody - Mikhail Vasiliev, who is being held in Canada subject to extradition proceedings, and Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov, who is in the US.
The remaining three - Artur Sungatov, Ivan Kondratyev and Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev - are still at large.
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Two people have been arrested in Poland and Ukraine and more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts believed to be linked to the group have been frozen.
A post on the group's website on Monday said: "This site is now under the control of the National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement task force, 'Operation Cronos'."
Europol and other international police organisations from France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany all aided in the rare law enforcement operation.