Ransomware, Government Regulations
Law enforcement indicts mastermind behind LockBit ransomware gang

Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev
The U.S. Justice Department on May 7 unsealed charges against a Russian national for his alleged role as the creator, developer and administrator of LockBit, arguably one of the most prolific ransomware gangs and an early pioneer of the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model.In a 26-count indictment by a grand jury in the District of New Jersey, the filing said that since September 2019, Dimitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, 31, of Voronezh, Russia, the LockBit ransomware group attacked more than 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries, including 1,800 victims in the United States.While no arrest was made, Khoroshev will be subject to a series of asset freezes and travel bans.According to the indictment, Khoroshev was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, extortion, and related activity in connection with computers; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; eight counts of intentional damage to a protected computer; eight counts of extortion in relation to confidential information from a protected computer; and eight counts of extortion in relation to damage to a protected computer. In total, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 185 years in prison. LockBit’s victims included individuals, small businesses, multinational corporations, hospitals, schools, nonprofit organizations, critical infrastructure, and government and law-enforcement agencies. Some prominent targets include the Thales Group, the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, and the U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.Khoroshev and his co-conspirators yielded at least $500 million in ransom payments from their victims and caused billions of dollars in broader losses, such as lost revenue, incident response, and recovery, according to the indictment.“Today’s indictment of LockBit developer and operator Dimitry Yuryevich Khoroshev continues the FBI’s ongoing disruption of the LockBit criminal ecosystem,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The LockBit ransomware group represented one of the most prolific ransomware variants across the globe, causing billions of dollars in losses and wreaking havoc on critical infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. The charges announced today reflect the FBI’s unyielding commitment to disrupting ransomware organizations and holding the perpetrators accountable.”The indictment of Khoroshev follows many months and years of international law enforcement efforts to take LockBit down. Earlier this year, a taskforce of 17 agencies including the FBI, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), and Europol took control of key LockBit infrastructure including numerous dark web websites. An FBI official told Bloomberg that law enforcement from 11 countries took part in the operation, which seized 11,000 domains used by LockBit and its ransomware affiliates.
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