ChainCatcher news, according to News.bitcoin, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that two foreign nationals have pleaded guilty in Newark federal court for their involvement in the Lockbit ransomware organization. Russian citizen Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov and dual Canadian-Russian national Mikhail Vasiliev have been identified as members of the Lockbit organization.The group has been active since January 2020, targeting over 2,500 victims across 120 countries and extorting approximately $500 million in ransom. Their victims include hospitals, educational institutions, and commercial enterprises. Astamirov and Vasiliev used Lockbit ransomware to encrypt and steal data, demanding ransom and threatening to publish information if their demands were not met. They were arrested in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and could face up to 25 years and 45 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to Scopescan monitoring, Tether has banned the ransomware LockBit associated address 0xf370. It is reported that this address is a CoinsPaid deposit address, and currently does not hold USDT tokens.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named two Russians, Artur Sungatov and Ivan Kondratyev, who were indicted for deploying ransomware in a statement, and identified 10 Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses that have been added to the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, prohibiting U.S. entities from providing any form of financial services to these two individuals. OFAC stated that the two are members of the LockBit ransomware group, which is one of the world's most prolific ransomware distributors, accused of stealing over $120 million from more than 2,000 victims over the past few years.Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice, Europol, the UK's National Crime Agency, and agencies from several other countries seized LockBit's website and various web pages in an international operation. Law enforcement announced that they would distribute decryption keys to victims, enabling them to regain access to their devices.

ChainCatcher news, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) announced today that it has dismantled the world's largest cybercrime organization, LockBit. After infiltrating the organization's network, the NCA has taken control of several of LockBit's services, thereby undermining their entire criminal enterprise.It is reported that the Lockbit ransomware gang has been exceptionally active since September 2019. LockBit itself is malware capable of automatically scanning for valuable targets, spreading infections, and encrypting all accessible computer systems on the network. LockBit demands ransom payments by blocking victims' access to their computer systems. LockBit typically only accepts payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Monero, or Zcash.