Dive Brief:
- The State Department offered up to a $10 million reward for information about the identity or location of leaders affiliated with the AlphV ransomware group. The bounty includes a reward up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of anyone participating in a ransomware attack using the AlphV variant, the agency said Thursday.
- The FBI and international law enforcement agencies disrupted the prolific ransomware group’s infrastructure in December, but the group regenerated itself mere hours later and continues naming new victims on its data leak site.
- The State Department said the reward is complementary to law enforcement’s disruption campaign against AlphV. The ransomware group, also known as BlackCat, has compromised more than 1,000 entities and received nearly $300 million in ransom payments as of September, according to the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Dive Insight:
The State Department’s reward offer was announced the same day a key White House official said global law enforcement efforts haven’t done enough to thwart ransomware activity.
“The core question we ask ourselves is is it riskier, costlier and harder for attackers to be successful?” said Anne Neuberger, national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, at the Munich Cyber Security Conference, according to The Record.
Ransomware group takedowns have made it harder for cybercriminals to operate, but not hard enough, Neuberger said.
“We’re doing that every eight to 12 months, but they have to be more frequent,” Neuberger said. “We’ve made progress but there is far more to be done.”
AlphV first emerged about 20 months ago and almost 3 in 4 of its victims are U.S.-based organizations, according to federal authorities.
The takedown operation in December led to the development of a decryption tool that allowed dozens of victims to restore their systems and avoid almost $99 million in combined ransom demands, the State Department said.
