In a massive coordinated effort, law enforcement agencies from the United States and United Kingdom have dismantled the infrastructure of the notorious LockBit ransomware gang. LockBit has been linked to more than $100 million in ransom payments from victims across the globe since 2021. This takedown serves as a stern warning to cybercriminal groups that authorities are fighting back.
LockBit operated what is known as a “ransomware-as-a-service” model, allowing affiliates to use their malware to infect targets with ransomware and then take a cut of any ransom payments. This decentralized structure made LockBit challenging to track.
