Security News > 2021 > October > REvil gang member identified living luxury lifestyle in Russia, says German media
German news outlets claim to have identified a member of the infamous REvil ransomware gang - who reportedly lives the life of Riley off his ill-gotten gains.
The gang member, nicknamed Nikolay K by Die Zeit newspaper and the Bayerische Rundfunk radio station, reportedly owns a €70,000 watch with a Bitcoin address engraved on its face and rents yachts for €1,300 a day whenever he goes on holiday.
Emsisoft researcher Brett Callow told The Register the identification of "Nikolay" was a great thing, saying: "Ransomware gangs have had it easy for too long, with the risk/reward ratio being very much on their side. But that's starting to change."
REvil is one of the more notorious ransomware gangs of our time.
Once they're inside a victim's network, they deploy their ransomware, encrypt everything they can touch and leave a ransom note inviting the target to contact them through a messaging platform controlled by the gang.
The gang has a ransomware-as-a-service operation, though some of its criminal customers have moaned that they did all the hard work only for REvil to divert the ransom out of their hands.