The usDepartment of State set two separate bounties for data on the Conti ransomware organized crime group totaling $15 million.
Any data that helps establish or find the Conti group leaders will probably be awarded as much as $10 million. Moreover, $5 million will probably be awarded for any data that results in the arrest of people conspiring with the Conti group.
The rewards are provided beneath the Division of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) and will be claimed from any nation.
Ransomware assaults
Ransomware is a kind of malware that threatens to delete or publish personal data until a ransom is paid.
Ransomware assaults peaked in 2020 by reaching $692 million in complete worth, based on Chainalysis. The whole quantity paid in ransom remained over $600 million as of 2021. Nonetheless, the slight decline in confiscated complete worth doesn’t imply that the menace can also be degrading.
The report states:
“Regardless of these numbers, anecdotal proof, plus the truth that ransomware income within the first half of 2021 exceeded that of the primary half of 2020, suggests to us that 2021 will finally be revealed to have been a good larger yr for ransomware.”
The identical report breaks down the highest 10 ransomware strains by income, the place Conti takes the primary place by extorting at the least $180 million from its victims in 2021.
Conti ransomware
It’s estimated that the Conti ransomware group has been energetic for over two years and has round 350 members. It was in a position to accumulate over $2.7 billion in ransom since 2020.
In response to data leaked from Conti, the group makes use of proprietary in-house software program that’s a lot sooner than different most ransomware applications. All variations of Microsoft Home windows are liable to their assaults.
On 21 April 2022, the group attacked the Authorities of Costa Rica and focused at the least 5 authorities businesses, together with the Ministries of Finance, Science, and Expertise. Conti demanded a $10 million ransom and began leaking sure data for not receiving it.
🚨 #Conti‘s newest replace on the cyberattack in opposition to Costa Rica’s Ministerio de Hacienda 🇨🇷…
“If the ministry can’t clarify to its tax payers what’s going on, we’ll do it 1) we’ve penetrated their important infrastructure, gained entry to about 800 servers, …” 👇 pic.twitter.com/wp2Y8UeGGN
— BetterCyber (@_bettercyber_) April 20, 2022
Specialists from Cyberint, who analyzed Conti debunked beforehand confiscated in-group messages written in Russian and found that the group adopted a well-managed organizational construction.
The messages additionally confirmed that the group had bodily places of work in Russia, ran efficiency critiques, and even named an “worker of the month.”
Lotem Finkelstein, the top of menace intelligence at Test Level Software program Applied sciences, said:
“Our … assumption is that such an enormous group, with bodily places of work and massive income wouldn’t have the ability to act in Russia with out the total approval, and even some cooperation, with Russian intelligence providers.”
