Over 100 DeadBolt ransomware decryption keys acquired in police operation

The Deadbolt ransomware gang has been lured to provide 155 decryption keys to the Dutch National Police in an operation done in collaboration with cybersecurity company Responders.NU, which involved fake ransomware payments, BleepingComputer reports. Twenty thousand QNAP and Asustor network attached storage devices around the world have been encrypted by Deadbolt since January. "The police paid, received the decryption keys, and then withdrew the payments. These keys allow files such as treasured photos or administration to be unlocked again, at no cost to victims," said the Dutch National Police in a statement. Meanwhile, Responders.NU security expert Rickey Gevers said that the decryption keys were successfully obtained by canceling the transactions with Deadbolt prior to their inclusion to a block. "So we made transactions with a minimum fee. And since we knew that the attacker would find out one moment, we had to smash and grab. The attacker found out within several minutes, but we were able to grab 155 keys. 90% of the victims who reported the deadbolt attack to the police. So most of them got the decryption key for free," said Gevers.