LockBit Operators
LockBit Operators (LockBit / LockBitSupp / Bitwise Spider / Storm-0506 / Syrphid / G1004) is the longest-running modern ransomware-as-a-service operation in the publicly-tracked record , active from September 2019 through approximately February 2024 (Operation Cronos disruption) with continued substantially- degraded residual operations subsequently, operating from Russia and adjacent post-Soviet states, with pre-disruption documented compromise of more than two thousand organizations globally and estimated ransom collection exceeding five hundred million US dollars across LockBit 1.0 - 2.0/Red - 3.0/Black - Green - Linux/ESXi/macOS variant evolution including the operationally-mature bug-bounty program offering up to $1M USD for vulnerabilities in the LockBit codebase.
with the strongest formal-attribution profile of any ransomware-as-a-service operation in the publicly-tracked record grounded in two operationally consequential 2024 Western law-enforcement actions: (1) Operation Cronos (February 19-20, 2024), coordinated UK NCA + FBI + Europol + ten-country (UK, US, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands) operation seizing 34 servers, taking control of the LockBit leak site, seizing 200 cryptocurrency wallets, recovering 1000+ decryption keys, and producing 2 arrests (Poland, Ukraine), the most operationally consequential international counter- ransomware action in the publicly-tracked record.
(2) May 7, 2024 US DOJ indictment of Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev (Russian national, born April 17, 1993, resident of Voronezh) as LockBit administrator "LockBitSupp" with 26 counts including conspiracy to commit fraud, extortion, and computer intrusion accompanied by US Treasury OFAC + UK + Australian joint sanctions designations and $5M USD US State Department Rewards for Justice reward for information leading to arrest.
high-profile documented victims including Boeing (Oct 2023), ICBC US financial services subsidiary (Nov 2023, disrupting US Treasury markets), Royal Mail UK (Jan 2023), TSMC supplier Kinmax (June 2023), Continental AG (Aug 2022), Accenture (Aug 2021), City of Oakland (Feb 2023), and Foxconn Baja California (May 2022).