Two Russian nationals plead guilty in LockBit ransomware attacks

LockBit is the name of a ransomware variant, a type of malicious code that locks up computers before hackers demand a ransom to unlock them. — Dreamstime/TNS

Two Russian nationals pleaded guilty to their roles in ransomware attacks in the US, Asia, Europe and Africa for a notorious hacking gang known as LockBit.

Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov and Mikhail Vasiliev admitted they helped to deploy the ransomware variant, which first appeared in 2020. It soon became one of the most destructive in the world, leading to attacks against more than 2,500 victims and ransom payments of at least US$500mil (RM2.33bil), according to the Justice Department.