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Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa
The Russian domestic secret service FSB has taken action against the ransomware group »REvil« and has arrested several members, the Russian news agency Interfax reports.
The action was carried out at the request of US authorities and the hacker organization was broken up, according to the report.
It was initially unclear how many suspects were arrested.
According to a statement from the FSB, the “criminal organization no longer exists and its infrastructure used for criminal purposes has been neutralized”.
»REvil« is one of the most notorious hacker gangs that extort money with so-called ransomware attacks.
The data of the victims, including authorities and companies, is encrypted and their systems are paralyzed.
The criminals then demand a ransom to release the data.
After attacks by »REvil«, supermarkets in Sweden had to close, in Germany at least three IT service providers and their customers were caught, in New Zealand several schools and kindergartens.
After an attack, the criminals extorted eleven million dollars in Bitcoin from the meat manufacturer JBS.
The US government had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of the key figures.
However, an anonymous source told Interfax that the suspects, who are Russian nationals, would not be extradited to the United States.
The group’s website had already disappeared from the internet overnight in the summer of 2020.
Even then there was speculation as to whether US or Russian authorities had succeeded in striking the group.
http/Reuters