Feds Charge Man In Global Ransomware Conspiracy Probe

A Canadian and Russian national was charged Thursday in the District of New Jersey for alleged involvement in the international LockBit ransomware group. LockBit is a variety of ransomware software that targets computer systems and makes them inaccessible and threatens to either delete or disseminate private files kept on personal and corporate machines if a ransom isn’t paid to the users executing the hack. Ontario man Mikhail Vasiliev is awaiting extradition to the United States on accusations that he participated in Lockbit campaigns and has been charged with conspiracy to intentionally damage protected computers and conspiracy to transmit ransom demands. 

“Let this be yet another warning to ransomware actors: working with partners around the world, the Department of Justice will continue to disrupt cyber threats and hold perpetrators to account,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in a Department of Justice release. Last month, another Canadian man was sentenced in relation to another global ransomware tool, Netwalker, after extradition to the U.S. In February, the FBI shared a FLASH alert for network defenders sharing indicators that may pop up in a computer and network system infected with Lockbit ransomware. Read it here.