The US on Tuesday introduced a reward of as much as $10 million for info on a Ukrainian nationwide indicted for his position in administering the LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Nefilim ransomware households.
The person, Volodymyr Viktorovich Tymoshchuk, often known as Boba, Deadforz, Farnetwork, and Msfv, 28, is accused of compromising the networks of a whole bunch of organizations within the US and overseas, to deploy ransomware and extort ransom funds from the victims.
In accordance with a Could 2024 superseding indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday, the intrusions induced a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in losses, together with prices associated to remediation, injury induced to computer systems, and ransom funds.
The ransomware executable, the indictment alleges, was personalized for every sufferer, in order that the attackers might create decryption keys that might work just for a selected group.
“If a sufferer paid the ransom demand, the perpetrators would ship a decryption software, which enabled the sufferer to decrypt the pc recordsdata locked by the ransomware program,” the US Division of Justice notes.
Between July 2019 and June 2020, the indictment says, Tymoshchuk and his co-conspirators hit over 250 organizations within the US and a whole bunch extra overseas with the LockerGoga and MegaCortex ransomware, together with entities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.
As a result of legislation enforcement notified the victims of the intrusions, lots of the extortion makes an attempt had been unsuccessful, because the assault was neutralized earlier than file-encrypting ransomware may very well be deployed.
Beginning July 2020 by October 2021, Tymoshchuk was an administrator of the Nefilim ransomware, offering different miscreants with entry to the malware in change for 20% of the funds acquired from the victims, the indictment alleges.Commercial. Scroll to proceed studying.
One of many Nefilim ransomware associates, Ukrainian nationwide Artem Stryzhak, was extradited to the US after being arrested in Spain in 2024, the US introduced in Could.
Decryption keys for LockerGoga and MegaCortex had been launched publicly by way of the No Extra Ransomware Venture, enabling victims to get well their information with out paying a ransom.
Below the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), the US Division of State is providing a reward of as much as $10 million for info resulting in the arrest and/or conviction of Tymoshchuk.
The US can also be providing rewards of as much as $1 million for info on different key leaders of the LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Nefilim ransomware households.
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