The REvil group admitted to earning up to $100 million in 2020. Last year one of the leaders of this network of cybercriminals was arrested.
The Russian Federal Security Service assured they dismantled REvil, one of the largest cybercriminal and hacker organizations on record.
The announcement got made on January 14 through a press release published by the Agency. The text details that the members of this gang got captured in cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Lipetsk.
In the same statement, it is detailed that the given tracking happened in collaboration with the security agencies of the United States, who reported the locations. This gang had the sole responsibility for a series of attacks. That was the case, for example, with the whiskey maker, Jack Daniel’s. In August 2020, cybercriminals said they stole more than 1TB of sensitive data.
The statement highlights about USD 600,000 in assets got confiscated. This includes cryptocurrencies (although the exact amount is not detailed). This gang claimed to have stolen at least $100 million in ransomware hacks in 2020 alone.
Last November, one of the criminal leaders of REvil was captured and brought to justice in Russia, and his extradition to the United States of America got requested.
Something curious within the report is that the detainees got charged with an illegal circulation of means of payment, which gets inferred about the possession of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by hackers. This information could link to the fact that the Russian Central Bank would be seeking to ban the use of Bitcoin in the country.
Bitcoin and Monero, REvil’s Preferred Cryptocurrencies
Before it got taken down, REvil was used to collect bitcoin and Monero ransoms from its victims. The sums requested circles USD 50 million, as occurred with the attack on the Acer company.
In another attack, in this case on the Miami-based company Kaseya, which offers computer advice to more than 200 companies, the figure reached more than USD 70 million. The REvil hackers demanded an amount of more than 2,000 BTC, to which the president had to intervene to open an investigation.
According to various reports, losses in 2021 due to ransomware attacks surpassed 60,000 BTC. REvil was one of the groups that caused the most damage with its attacks, generating losses that rose above USD 10 million.
Russia and the United States Amid Tensions
Russia and the United States of America are going through a tense relationship because Ukraine (A US ally) recently indicated that the nation could face a Russian invasion. In response, the United States of America has warned that, in this scenario, the European country would suffer consequences.
Although the capture of REvil might show collaboration between agencies of the two countries, the United States of America recently accused Russia of covering up cybercriminals of ransomware attacks.
One of the consequences of these actions influenced Suex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange that received accusations of participating in money laundering by cyber-criminal groups. Suex froze all those assets in US jurisdictions.
Since the last G7 meeting occurred last July in which Russia was not present, the United States has asked to join forces against ransomware attacks, with the North American country being one of its first victims.
By: Jenson Nuñez
