BlackCat Ransomware Raises Ante After FBI Disruption (Krebs on Security)
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed today that it infiltrated the world’s second most prolific ransomware gang, a Russia-based criminal group known as ALPHV and BlackCat. The FBI said it seized the gang’s darknet website, and released a decryption tool that hundreds of victim companies can use to recover systems. Meanwhile, BlackCat responded by briefly “unseizing” its darknet site with a message promising 90 percent commissions for affiliates who continue to work with the crime group, and open season on everything from hospitals to nuclear power plants. A slightly modified version of the FBI seizure notice on the BlackCat darknet site (Santa caps added). Whispers of a possible law enforcement action against BlackCat came in the first week of December, after the ransomware group’s darknet site went offline…