Britain’s National Crime Agency said Tuesday it seized the operations of ransomware group LockBit, taking control of its website, seen here, where it will share information about the group. Image courtesy National Crime Agency
Feb. 20 (UPI) — Britain’s National Crime Agency announced on Tuesday that it infiltrated and seized control of operations of the ransomware group LockBit
The agency said it took control of LockBit’s services, compromised its criminal activities and took possession of its website on the dark web which it will use to post info exposing details about the group every day for the rest of the week.
“This NCA-led investigation is a ground-breaking disruption of the world’s most harmful cybercrime group,” NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said in a statement. “It shows that no criminal operation, wherever they are, and no matter how advanced, is beyond the reach of the agency and our partners.”
The NCA obtained more than 1,000 decryption keys to recover encrypted data from firms affected in Britain, adding it will be working with its international partners, including the FBI, to assist victims in other countries as well.
The NCA said it infiltrated LockBit internationally, spying on their activities with a task force that concentrated on gaining enough trust to seize control of their operations. The NCA said it gained a “vast amount of intelligence” that will allow them to disrupt efforts for LockBit associates to reconstitute.
“The criminals running LockBit are sophisticated and highly organized, but they have not been able to escape the arm of U.K. law enforcement and our international partners,” Home Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.
“The U.K. has severely disrupted their sinister ambitions and we will continue going after criminal groups who target our business and institutions.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the LockBit investigation allowed law enforcement to take a long look at the ransomware infrastructure to free captured systems.
“For years, LockBit associates have deployed these kinds of attacks again and again across the United States and around the world,” Garland said. “Today, U.S. and U.K. law enforcement are taking away the keys to their criminal operations.”