A well-known ransomware group that frequently targets hospitals and other healthcare organizations has had its website taken down by the FBI.
On Thursday, the Hive group’s website was unavailable.
How the confiscation, announced in a takedown notice on the gang’s dark website, will impact its long-term operations is unknown.
To discuss the action, the Justice Department has arranged a news conference.
According to a U.S. government assessment from June 2021 to last November, Hive ransomware perpetrators targeted over 1,300 businesses globally, collecting around $100 million in extortion payments.
Government facilities, essential manufacturing, and “particularly” health care and public health were among the industries that criminals using ransomware targeted.
The seizure is the Justice Department’s most recent effort to combat the menace of ransomware, in which hackers lock up or encrypt victims’ computer networks, steal their data, and demand hefty ransoms.
Two years ago, the issue was brought to the highest levels of the Biden administration’s attention following a slew of high-profile strikes that put the world’s essential infrastructure and industries at risk.
For instance, in May 2021, hackers targeted the main fuel pipeline in the country, forcing its operators to briefly shut it down and pay a hefty ransom payment, which the US government partially recovered.
To fight the issue, federal officials have employed several methods, including traditional law enforcement techniques like arrests and prosecutions.
After visiting Poland, a suspected Ukrainian hacker was detained in October 2021 and prosecuted for a series of expensive ransomware assaults, including one that crippled businesses worldwide the previous Fourth of July weekend.
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