FBI disrupts major ransomware group, Blackcat

Editor's Note

The FBI has infiltrated the ransomware group BlackCat—the group responsible for a February cyberattack on the Lehigh Valley Health Network—and issued a decryption tool enabling victims around the world to restore their systems, according to a December 19 Justice Department press release.  

Emerging during the past 18 months as the second most prolific ransomware-as-a-service variant in the world, BlackCat has targeted more than 1,000 computer networks and been paid hundreds of millions in ransoms. US victims of the group, which is also known as ALPHV or Noberus, include government facilities, emergency services, defense companies, manufacturing, and healthcare and public health facilities. The FBI has seized several websites operated by the group, and its decryption tool has reportedly saved victims from ransoms totaling $68 million.  

“In disrupting the BlackCat ransomware group, the Justice Department has once again hacked the hackers,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in the press release. “We will continue to prioritize disruptions and place victims at the center of our strategy to dismantle the ecosystem fueling cybercrime.”