The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has dismantled an international ransomware network, the Hive network, which was dedicated to extorting money from its victims, more than 1,500, in more than 80 countries around the world.
«We will continue to work to both prevent these attacks and provide support to victims who have been attacked. And together with our international partners, we will continue to work to disrupt the criminal networks that deploy these attacks,» Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The Hive network, which has received more than $100 million in ransom payments, stole sensitive data from its victims through malicious software and then demanded a ransom for both the decryption key and a promise not to publish the information, the Justice Department said.
«Our investigative team dismantled Hive, discovered its decryption keys, passed them on to victims (more than 300), and ultimately prevented more than $130 million in ransomware payments,» said Assistant Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.
The ‘ramsomware’ operations, or internet data hijacking, affected the COVID-19 response. In particular, one hospital attacked by Hive had to resort to analog methods to treat patients.
The investigation has been carried out by the FBI in coordination with different police forces around the world, such as the Spanish National Police, the Swedish, British, Romanian, Portuguese, Canadian and French police forces, among others.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
