LockBit countdown disappoints viewers with vague hints and a cartoon cat

by Margarita Armstrong

A police countdown promising to explain the identification of the kingpin in the lend a hand of the crypto-ransomware group LockBit left spectators disappointed after it revealed most efficient a handful of obscure clues and a frigid appealing film image of a cat.

Police seized the LockBit web space this week sooner than foundation the on-line countdown that it used to be claimed would at final acknowledge the ‘$10 million query,’ who is LockBitSupp? Here’s the on-line nickname for LockBit’s leader.

Nonetheless, any one hoping for some spacious sign will seemingly like been left vastly underwhelmed when, after a limited delay, authorities posted, “All people is aware of who he is. All people is aware of the set apart he lives. All people is aware of how powerful he is worth. LockBitSupp has engaged with Law Enforcement :).”

Alongside the frigid appealing film cat, police additionally posted a sequence of no longer-severely-enlightening hints, particularly that LockbitSupp doesn’t dwell in the US or the Netherlands, and that he drives a Mercedes.

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A screenshot of the sign, including a smirking cat mentioned to be an emoji effectively liked by the LockBit administrative workers.

Read extra: Finnish police can’t receive suspected bitcoin blackmailer they good launched

LockBit operates a ransomware-as-a-carrier that encrypts the info of its victims sooner than tense a crypto ransom for its free up. This week 200 crypto addresses linked to LockBit were frozen and their space seized by authorities, including the FBI, Europol, and the UK Nationwide Crime Agency.

According to malware-targeted X (beforehand Twitter) tale vx-underground, LockBit is reportedly preparing a “formal answer to laws enforcement when they’re done restoring their infrastructure.” Vx-underground additionally claims that associates of LockBit like persisted to deploy their ransomware operations.

LockBit sign used to be an anticlimax

Understandably, on the present time’s sign didn’t dwell up to each person’s requirements, with many spectators ended in deem that the countdown would sign the obvious identification of LockBitSupp. As Joe Perfect, the BBC’s cyber crime reporter set apart it, “That used to be somewhat (rather a lot) of an anticlimax.”

He posted, “Police teased all week that they’d free up the identification of LockBit’s head honcho on the present time. 31,000 folks visited the darknet page with a countdown timer to be met with…. a cat frigid appealing film…”

My good reaction to the LockBit “sign”.@vxunderground #LockBitch #LockBit #cronos #ransomware pic.twitter.com/wTybF5RUyq

— Memediant Threat Intel (@SASSnRaaS) February 23, 2024

Other users mentioned, “They had us waiting all that time for this? I anticipated something juicy,” whereas one other complained, “Gargantuan, any non-us non-neather [sic] citizen [sic] that drives a Mercedes is a target 🤣🤣🤣.”

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