The US authorities is sanctioning the crypto wallets believed to belong to 2 Russian nationals linked to the ransomware group LockBit.
In an announcement, the Treasury Division’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) says that it has sanctioned a number of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallets linked to the group.
In accordance with a press launch, the wallets of Ivan Gennadievich Kondratiev and Artur Sungatov will probably be blocked in the US after LockBit attacked the Industrial and Business Financial institution of China’s (ICBC) U.S broker-dealer, impacting the settlement of billions of {dollars} price of belongings.
“OFAC’s investigation recognized LockBit as chargeable for the ransomware assault on ICBC, which occurred on November 9, 2023. The ransomware assault disrupted ICBC’s U.S. broker-dealer, affecting the settlement of over $9 billion price of belongings backed by Treasury securities.
The ransomware assault induced a blackout of ICBC’s pc programs, leading to a lack of e-mail and communications. ICBC’s lack of ability to entry its programs induced securities to be delivered for settlement with no funds backing the trades.”
LockBit, which first appeared in 2019, employs the ransom-as-a-service mannequin, the place it licenses its malware out to cyber criminals who then give them a reduce of the ransoms paid by victims, in line with the press launch.
“LockBit is thought for its double extortion techniques, the place its cybercriminals exfiltrate huge quantities of information from its victims earlier than encrypting the sufferer’s pc programs and demanding ransom funds. LockBit was essentially the most deployed ransomware variant globally in 2022 and stays prolific at the moment.”
As acknowledged by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, in line with the press launch,
“The US won’t tolerate makes an attempt to extort and steal from our residents and establishments. We are going to proceed our whole-of-government strategy to defend towards malicious cyber actions, and can use all accessible instruments to carry the actors that allow these threats accountable.”
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