Authorities Turn the Tables on Lockbit, Exposing Their Identity to The World

Yesterday, authorities announced the success of cooperating law enforcement agencies worldwide in disrupting the infamous Lockbit ransomware gang.

Police Turn the Tables on Lockbit

Mere hours after the initial announcement, police flipped the switch on the notorious group, exposing the identity of its members to the world.

After disrupting the gang’s main website on Monday and replacing its homepage with a seizure notice, authorities announced they revamped its digital infrastructure and displayed a clock counting down to the public release of the identities of the alleged gang members.

Lockbit Tastes its Own Medicine

The move gives Lockbit a taste of its own medicine, as the group frequently displayed a countdown clock next to its victims on the website. The gang’s victims were organized in a style resembling an advent calendar, each tile embellished with a countdown timer; when a victim’s time would run out, the website would reveal its stolen data.

Since the global police intervention, the website showcases internal data harvested from the hackers themselves instead of the usual victims’ names, links and leaked data. The homepage also flaunts several indictments and sanctions against the group, a decryption tool publicly available for victims to unlock their documents, and a new countdown mockingly asking, “Who is LockbitSupp? The $10 million question.”

The Downfall of Arrogance

Lockbit members were tremendously confident that their identities were safe, in contrast to the public renown of their nefarious actions in the cybercrime community. One of the key members of the group, acting under the “LockbitSupp” moniker, even promised a $10 million reward to the first person who would reveal their true identity.

In a comparable act of defiance, Lockbit offered $1,000 to anyone who would tattoo their logo on their body. While their downfall was not directly attributed to the group’s hubris, there’s a certain sense of poetic justice in witnessing the decline of an entity that had long conducted itself with such disregard for others.

Lockbit is Down, But the Danger’s Not Gone

Although Lockbit’s apparent downfall is reason to rejoice for many, particularly those directly impacted and those who feared they could be next, it is not a moment for complacency.

Instead, it is an ideal opportunity to regroup, reassess our strategies, and reflect on the lessons learned from our encounter with Lockbit. This includes understanding their cunning methods and how they exploited our vulnerabilities and compromised our systems, privacy, and assets.

Keep Safe from Ransomware and Other Online Threats

Keeping safe from ransomware can feel daunting, but threat actors’ efforts can be significantly impeded with good cyber hygiene and specialized solutions. Bitdefender Ultimate Security can protect your documents, photos, videos, and music against ransomware and other digital threats, such as viruses, worms, spyware, Trojans, rootkits, and zero-day exploits.