Security News > 2023 > June > LockBit suspect's arrest sheds more light on 'trustworthy' gang

FBI agents have arrested a Russian man suspected of being part of the Lockbit ransomware gang.

The feds allege that, through the devices, they managed to connect the suspect to an email address they say was used to register him on Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram as well as with an online betting program and a cryptocurrency exchange.

The complaint says that in the case of a fifth victim's ransom payment, Astamirov allegedly received the "80 percent affiliate portion of the Victim-5 Ransom Payment into a Bitcoin address under his ownership and control hours after Victim-5 made that payment."

Special agent Keith Manning testified in the complaint that he believed "Based in part on the fact that Astamirov received virtually all of the 80 percent affiliate portion of the Victim-5 Ransom Payment, that Astamirov was involved in the execution of that LockBit attack." The complaint also detailed parts of a transcript of the negotiations.

During those negotiations, Victim-5 asked the perpetrators how Victim-5 could be confident that the LockBit perpetrators would fulfill their promises to decrypt Victim-5's data, destroy copies of exfiltrated data, and not post exfiltrated data on the LockBit Data Leak Site after payment of a ransom.

According to the research, if the ransom paid is under $3 million, you get 80 percent, and for ransoms over $3 mill, the affiliates' cut is a cool 85 percent.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/06/16/lockbit_suspect_arrest/