U.S. Government Acts Against Alleged REvil Hackers – By Mariam Baksh (Nextgov) / Nov 8 2021
The Justice Department announced two indictments while the State Department offered $10 million for information on other conspirators.
Federal agencies are claiming another victory in a global collaboration against ransomware with the indictment of two people allegedly behind the notorious REvil ransomware group and sanctions for them along with the virtual currency exchange Chatex.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco addressed would-be ransomware criminals directly in a press release Monday.
“In another success for the department’s recently launched Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, criminals now know we will take away your profits, your ability to travel, and – ultimately – your freedom,” she said. “Together with our partners at home and abroad, the Department will continue to dismantle ransomware groups and disrupt the cybercriminal ecosystem that allows ransomware to exist and to threaten all of us.”
Justice released indictments for 22-year-old Ukranian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi and 28-year-old Russian national Yevgeniy Polyanin in connection with the July attack on Software firm Kaseya, which affected as many as 1,500 of their customers and exposed public and private organizations across the globe to attack. The department also seized $6.1 million in assets associated with ransomware payments from Polyanin. U.S. officials described the actions as a coordinated effort to go after the ransomware perpetrators behind a series of high-profile attacks on critical infrastructure this year.
