Four arrests, including in Poland and Ukraine, and victims will be helped to recover encrypted data
A massive law enforcement operation has seized the “command and control” infrastructure for international ransomware group LockBit, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed on Tuesday, and will repurpose the technology to expose the group’s operations to the world.
The joint operation, between the NCA, the FBI, Europol and a coalition of international police agencies, was first revealed with a post on LockBit’s own website, which read: “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 taskforce Operation Cronos.”
Disruption to the LockBit operation is significantly greater than first revealed, the NCA said. As well as taking control of the public-facing website, the agency seized LockBit’s entire primary administration environment, the infrastructure that allowed it to manage and deploy the hacking technology that it used to extort businesses and individuals around the world.
“Through our close collaboration, we have hacked the hackers; taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code, and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems,” said Graeme Biggar, the NCA’s director general.
