Britain’s National Crime Agency has taken control of Russian-run dark website LockBit which extorted billions of pounds worldwide.

1

It follows a four-year operation which has seen five Russians charged in the US, two suspects held in Poland and Ukraine and 200 cryptocurrency accounts frozen.

The hackers broke into computer systems to steal sensitive data — either demanding a ransom or selling it to affiliates.

Its leaders arrogantly offered a $10million (£8million) reward to anyone who could identify them.

But on Monday, a message appeared on their site stating it was “now under control of law enforcement”.

NCA director general Graeme Biggar said: “We have hacked the hackers — taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code, and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems. LockBit is locked out.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the crackdown, which involved 12 countries in all, had severely disrupted the hackers’ “sinister ambitions”.