Lockbit gang disrupted by global police operation

The hacker group had recently attacked MOFSL

Lockbit, a notorious cybercrime gang that holds its victims’ data to ransom, has been disrupted in a rare international law enforcement operation, the gang and US and UK authorities said on Monday.

The operation was run by Britain National Crime Agency, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Europol and a coalition of international police agencies, according to a post on the gang extortion website.

“This site is now under the control of the National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement task force, Operation Cronos,” the post said. An NCA spokesperson and a US Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed that the agencies had disrupted the gang and said the operation was “ongoing and developing”.

Officials in the US, where Lockbit has hit more than 1,700 organisations in nearly every industry from financial services and food to schools, transportation and government departments, have described the group as the world’s top ransomware threat. A representative for Lockbit did not respond to messages from Reuters seeking comment but did post messages on an encrypted messaging app saying it had backup servers not affected by the law enforcement action.the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Two days ago, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL) became victim of this gang, which claimed to have gained access to “confidential data”,according to a report by Techcrunch. The attack potentially risked the information of over six million clients of MOFSL and could also jeopardise company data for its other businesses, including asset management.