Security News > 2021 > June > Ukrainian Police Nab Six Tied to CLOP Ransomware

Authorities in Ukraine this week charged six people alleged to be part of the CLOP ransomware group, a cybercriminal gang said to have extorted more than half a billion dollars from victims.

According to a statement and videos released today, the Ukrainian Cyber Police charged six defendants with various computer crimes linked to the CLOP gang, and conducted 21 searches throughout the Kyiv region.

First debuting in early 2019, CLOP is one of several ransomware groups that hack into organizations, launch ransomware that encrypts files and servers, and then demand an extortion payment in return for a digital key needed to unlock access.

The CLOP gang seized on those flaws to deploy ransomware to a significant number of Accellion's FTA customers, including U.S. grocery chain Krogers, the law firm Jones Day, security firm Qualys, and the Singaporean telecom giant Singtel.

"The overall impact to CLOP is expected to be minor although this law enforcement attention may result in the CLOP brand getting abandoned as we've recently seen with other ransomware groups like DarkSide and Babuk".

While CLOP as a moneymaking collective is fairly young organization, security experts say CLOP members hail from a group of Threat Actors known as "TA505," which MITRE's ATT&CK database says is a financially motivated cybercrime group that has been active since at least 2014.

News URL

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/06/ukrainian-police-nab-six-tied-to-clop-ransomware/