FBI announces takedown of Hive ransomware network

The FBI announced the takedown of Hive, a ransomware network with members in several states in Europe and North America, in a recent press release.

the united states agency fixed who had been on the case since at least 2021.

hacked hackers

Despite the efforts of the FBI, the network was difficult to crack. However, in July 2022, law enforcement was able to penetrate the cybercrime group’s control center and gain access to decryption keys that would be delivered to victims who paid the requested ransom.

A prominent example of this attack would be the encryption from Costa Rican health service computers during the spring of 2022, with Hive requesting $5 million in Bitcoin in exchange for decryption.

As a result, in recent months, the FBI has quietly approached the victims of the attacks, offering them the keys and denying up to $130 million in ransomware payments, effectively cutting off the group’s funding. The hackers are believed to have obtained around $100 million in ransom payments for more than 1,500 victims, meaning the FBI effectively denied them more than half of all potential payments.

The FBI reached out to both victims who contacted law enforcement and those who did not. Unfortunately, only 20% of Hive victims asked for help, prompting FBI Director Christopher Wray to remind the public that often the only way victims of cybercrime can be helped is if they They communicate.

“The coordinated disruption of Hive’s computer networks, after months of cracking down on victims around the world, shows what we can achieve by combining a relentless search for useful technical information to share with victims with research aimed at developing hard-hitting operations. to our adversaries.

The FBI will continue to leverage our intelligence and law enforcement tools, global presence, and partnerships to counter cybercriminals targeting American businesses and organizations.”

Multi-Agency Cooperation

Since then, the FBI and its partners in Europe and North America have further infiltrated the network, culminating in the seizure of the cybercrime group’s assets on January 26.

In total, 16 agencies in 12 countries collaborated to shut down the criminal network and help victims recover their funds.

Although the network has been taken down, Hive was not the only ransomware group out there, a fact that should remind all of us to stay in control of our own cyber security at all times.