The US State Department has announced that it will pay up to $15 million in exchange for information about the Conti ransomware version.
Any information that leads to the identification or location of the Conti group’s leaders might earn you up to $10 million. In addition, any information leading to the arrest of anybody plotting with the Conti group will be awarded $5 million.
The awards can be claimed from any country under the Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP).
Overview of Attacks by Ransomware
Ransomware is a sort of software that demands a ransom in exchange for deleting or publishing private information.
According to Chainalysis, ransomware assaults peaked in 2020, with a total value of $692 million. As of 2021, the total amount paid in ransom was still over $600 million. The minor decrease in total confiscated value, however, does not imply that the threat is diminishing.
According to the report:
Despite these figures, anecdotal evidence, together with the fact that ransomware revenue in the first half of 2021 topped that in the first half of 2020, leads us to believe that 2021 will be shown to have been an even bigger year for ransomware.
Conti holds first place in the top 10 ransomware strains by revenue, extorting at least $180 million from its victims in 2021, according to the same estimate.
About Ransomware Conti
The Conti ransomware organization is thought to have been active for over two years and has roughly 350 members. Since 2020, it has been able to collect almost $2.7 billion in ransom.
Conti’s analysis suggests that the firm uses proprietary in-house software that is significantly faster than most ransomware programs. Their attacks can affect any version of Microsoft Windows.
The gang assaulted the Costa Rican government on April 21, 2022, and targeted at least five government institutions, including the Finance, Science, and Technology Ministries. Conti requested a $10 million ransom and began leaking material after failing to receive it.
Check Point Software Technologies’ head of threat intelligence, Lotem Finkelstein, stated:
“Our… view is that such a large business with actual offices and vast revenue would not be able to operate in Russia without complete consent from Russian intelligence services, or even some cooperation.“
Also Read: Ransomware Crypto Payment Exceeded $602M Stated by Chainalysis
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