Uncle Sam has put up a $10 million reward for intel on Hive ransomware criminals’ identities and whereabouts, whereas Russia has blocked the FBI and CIA web sites, together with the Rewards for Justice web site providing the bounty.
The $10 million bonty is a part of the US State Division’s Rewards for Justice program, and in a Thursday tweet the company sought ideas for Hive members “performing underneath the path or management of a international authorities.” The discover additionally referenced the FBI’s Hive web site takedown, which the feds introduced earlier that day.
“When you have info that hyperlinks Hive or every other malicious cyber actors concentrating on US vital infrastructure to a international authorities, ship us your tip by way of our Tor tip line. You can be eligible for a reward,” it mentioned.
FBI disrupts the Darkish Web page of the Hive ransomware group.When you have info that hyperlinks Hive or every other malicious cyber actors concentrating on U.S. vital infrastructure to a international authorities, ship us your tip by way of our Tor tip line. You can be eligible for a reward. https://t.co/7Bqz0DUSCf pic.twitter.com/n8U3TNC7lh
— Rewards for Justice (@RFJ_USA) January 26, 2023
Hive is a ransomware-as-a-service crew believed to have ties to Russia. Because it appeared in June 2021, this explicit crime ring has hit greater than 1,500 victims globally and extorted greater than $100 million in ransom funds, in response to the US authorities.
Earlier this week, the US and worldwide legislation enforcement companions shut down Hive’s ransomware infrastructure following a seven-month covert operation. Throughout that point, the FBI hacked Hive’s community and used that entry to offer decryption keys to greater than 300 victims, saving them $130 million in ransomware funds, we’re advised.
US Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland, chatting with reporters concerning the Hive bust, mentioned no arrests have been made, including: “Our investigation into the legal conduct of Hive members stays ongoing.” When requested about Hive’s connection to the Kremlin, Garland declined to reply, noting “we’re in the midst of an ongoing investigation.”
On Friday, Moscow’s communications and IT regulator Roskomnadzor mentioned it blocked US authorities web sites and accused them of spreading lies concerning the Russian authorities and army.
In a statement offered to Russian media shops, Roskomnadzor mentioned it “restricted entry to plenty of assets belonging to state buildings of hostile nations for distributing supplies aimed toward destabilizing the social and political scenario within the Russian Federation.”
These web sites embody the CIA, FBI and US State Division’s Rewards for Justice.
“These assets revealed supplies containing unreliable socially vital info, in addition to discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” the federal company mentioned.
The Rewards for Justice program has provided comparable $10 million prizes for cybercriminals linked to Russia’s Conti ransomware crew, GRU officers linked to the Kremlin-backed Sandworm gang, Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), businessman Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, and any “linked Russian entities and associates for his or her engagement in US election interference.”
The IRA is a Russian troll farm charged with interfering within the 2016 presidential election and is believed to have helped Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and Prigozhin was the alleged cash man behind the operation. ®
