Security News > 2022 > May > Conti ransomware shuts down operation, rebrands into smaller units
While it may seem strange for Conti to shut down in the middle of their information war with Costa Rica, Boguslavskiy tells us that Conti conducted this very public attack to create a facade of a live operation while the Conti members slowly migrated to other, smaller ransomware operations.
While the Conti ransomware brand is no more, the cybercrime syndicate will continue to play a significant role in the ransomware industry for a long time to come.
Boguslavskiy told BleepingComputer that instead of rebranding as another large ransomware operation, the Conti leadership has instead partnered with other smaller ransomware gangs to conduct attacks.
The Conti ransomware operation launched in the summer of 2020, after taking the place of the Ryuk ransomware.
After siding with Russia, a Ukrainian security researcher began leaking over 170,000 internal chat conversations between the Conti ransomware gang members and the source code for the Conti ransomware encryptor.
The Conti ransomware gang's exploits have led the US government to offer up to a $15,000,000 reward for the identification and location of Conti members in leadership roles.