In the Ternopil region, two men – a father and a son, suspected of involvement in the Lockbit cybercriminal group – were detained, the National Police of Ukraine reported on February 21. At the same time, the United States announced it was offering a reward of up to $15 million (€13.9 million) for information leading to the identification or location of the leaders of the Lockbit network, Reuters and News.ro reported.

Two Ukrainians were wanted for carrying out attacks using ransomware on “enterprises, state institutions and health care facilities in France”, the National Police of Ukraine reported.

“Investigators conducted a series of searches at the home of the hackers in Ternopil, during which they seized mobile phones and computer equipment used for illegal activities,” said a statement about the city in western Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the NCA (British Organized Crime Agency), the FBI, the US Department of Justice and Europol said that a joint law enforcement operation called “Operation Kronos” had disrupted the activities of Lockbit, one of the world’s most damaging cybercriminal organizations. world.

The United States has indicted two Russian nationals for deploying the Lockbit ransomware against companies and groups around the world. The police of Poland and Ukraine arrested two people, the police said.

After the arrests in Ukraine, law enforcement officers were able to confiscate more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts and 34 servers used by the group in the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, France, Switzerland, Australia, the United States and Great Britain, Ukrainian reports. police.

“This made it possible to block the activities of the main hacking platform and other critical infrastructure,” it added.

Lockbit has managed to solicit multiple victims at once through its website.

Operation Cronos was unique in that law enforcement agencies that once controlled Lockbit’s website used Lockbit’s digital platform to leak data about the group’s covert operation.

The Paris prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation into the network in 2020, said France was involved in this international operation because Lockbit had claimed “more than 200” victims in the country, “including hospitals, town halls and businesses of all sizes. “.

French investigators participated in the detention of some suspects in Ukraine and Poland and in searches.

Paris prosecutors warned on Tuesday that the investigation would continue “to identify and arrest other members of the group.”

The reward the US wants to offer for finding the leaders of the Lockbit network

The US State Department said it would offer a reward for “information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of any person involved in the LockBit ransomware variant attack, and for information leading to the identification and/or location of any which key executives of LockBit. ransomware”.

Thus, the State Department stated that the USA is offering a reward of up to 15 million dollars (13.9 million euros).

“While there have been some arrests, most of them have been technical failures,” said Rafe Pilling, head of threat research at Secureworks. He said much of the damage done by Lockbit was caused by “affiliates,” smaller groups of hackers who carried out the initial breaches. He said these hackers are “still out there and they’re still going to do their thing. The threat may have temporarily subsided, but affiliates are still a problem,” Pilling warned.