Security News > 2023 > January > US offers $10M bounty for Hive ransomware links to foreign governments
The U.S. Department of State today offered up to $10 million for information that could help link the Hive ransomware group with foreign governments.
"If you have information that links Hive or any other malicious cyber actors targeting U.S. critical infrastructure to a foreign government, send us your tip via our Tor tip line. You could be eligible for a reward," the State Department's Rewards for Justice Twitter account said.
The State Department offers these rewards as part of its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, through which over $135 million in rewards have been paid since 1986.
The Justice Department revealed that the FBI infiltrated Hive servers at a hosting provider in California last July and secretly monitored the operation for six months.
As a result, the FBI could warn targets as it learned about attacks before they occurred and distribute over 1,300 decryption keys to Hive victims, thus saving them at least $130 million in ransom payments.
The FBI also discovered Hive communication records, malware file hashes, and information on 250 Hive affiliates.