- This hacker made a living off of the ransomware programs Hive, LockBit and Babuk
- Police are now actively looking for him
The U.S. State Department has imposed sanctions against Russian citizen Mikhail Matveev. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced this.
The government is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that could help find and arrest this criminal.
Hacker Mikhail Matveev was involved in the work of ransomware programs LockBit, Babuk and Hive.
Recall that these programs attacked the servers of various companies around the world. They stopped the websites of airports, hospitals, schools, laboratories, police stations, etc.
The hackers demanded a bribe in bitcoins to unblock them.
Since 2020, Matveev and his associates have carried out about 3,000 cyberattacks. Some victims were blackmailed and sent a ransom.
The criminals made over $400 million. But the amount could be greater because many companies did not go to the police and simply sent ransomware.
“The United States will not tolerate ransomware attacks against our people and our institutions.
Software authors like Matveev will be held accountable for their crimes, and we will continue to use all available powers and tools to defend against cyber threats.”
A year-long investigation has unmasked the identity of some hackers. Matveev faces up to 20 years in prison.
We recall that earlier this year the FBI blocked the crypto-extortion servers of Hive.