FBI infiltrates ransomware group Hive's networks, disrupts ransom campaigns worth $130 million

FBI infiltrate's ransomware group Hive's networks

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it has managed to covertly infiltrate's ransomware group Hive's networks, and disrupted ransom campaigns worth $130 million.

In a release shared with the press, the DOJ stated that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) successfully infiltrated Hive's networks in July 2022, and has since provided over 300 decryption keys to victims of the group's ransom campaigns.

They have also distributed an additional 1,000 decryption keys to the group's previous targets. The DOJ announced that in conjunction with German law enforcement, and Netherland's National High Tech Crime Unit, it has now seized control of the group's servers and websites.

“Cybercrime is a constantly evolving threat. But as I have said before, the Justice Department will spare no resource to identify and bring to justice, anyone, anywhere, who targets the US with a ransomware attack," said Attorney General Merrick B Garland.

"We will continue to work both to prevent these attacks and to provide support to victims who have been targeted. And together with our international partners, we will continue to disrupt the criminal networks that deploy these attacks," Garland added.

The notorious ransomware group Hive is known to have caused major disruptions in responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In one case, they disrupted a hospital forcing them to use analog methods to treat patients.

The DOJ stated that Hive used a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model. RaaS is a subscription model for malware that makes it easy to develop new strains of ransomware with an easy-to-use interface. They also recruited affiliates within the target organisation to deploy ransomware and they were awarded with a percentage cut.