A police countdown promising to disclose the id of the kingpin behind the crypto-ransomware group LockBit left spectators disillusioned after it revealed solely a handful of imprecise clues and a cartoon image of a cat.
Police seized the LockBit web site this week earlier than starting the web countdown that it was claimed would finally reply the ‘$10 million question,’ who’s LockBitSupp? This is the web nickname for LockBit’s chief.
However, anyone hoping for some grand reveal will possible have been left massively underwhelmed when, after a slight delay, authorities posted, “We know who he is. We know where he lives. We know how much he is worth. LockBitSupp has engaged with Law Enforcement :).”
Alongside the cartoon cat, police additionally posted a collection of not-particularly-enlightening hints, particularly that LockbitSupp doesn’t reside within the US or the Netherlands, and that he drives a Mercedes.
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LockBit operates a ransomware-as-a-service that encrypts the information of its victims earlier than demanding a crypto ransom for its launch. This week 200 crypto addresses linked to LockBit had been frozen and their website seized by authorities, together with the FBI, Europol, and the UK National Crime Agency.
According to malware-focused X (previously Twitter) account vx-underground, LockBit is reportedly making ready a “formal reply to law enforcement once they’re finished restoring their infrastructure.” Vx-underground additionally claims that associates of LockBit have continued to deploy their ransomware operations.
LockBit reveal was an anticlimax
Understandably, immediately’s reveal didn’t reside as much as everybody’s requirements, with many spectators led to consider that the countdown would reveal the particular id of LockBitSupp. As Joe Tidy, the BBC’s cyber crime reporter put it, “That was a bit (a lot) of an anticlimax.”
He posted, “Police teased all week that they would release the identity of LockBit’s head honcho today. 31,000 people visited the darknet page with a countdown timer to be met with…. a cat cartoon…”
Other customers said, “They had us waiting all that time for this? I expected something juicy,” whereas one other complained, “Great, any non-us non-neather [sic] citizen [sic] that drives a Mercedes is a target 🤣🤣🤣.”
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