Get to know LockBit Ransomware, the Most Vicious Group of Hackers Who Stole 1.5 TB of BSI Data

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – The LockBit ransomware group claims to have stolen 1.5 TB of data belonging to Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), including 15 million user (customer) data and passwords for internal and service access.

LockBit itself is known as the name of the most prolific and ferocious group of hackers in ransomware attacks.

To quote The GuardiansSaturday (13/5/2023), the LockBit group also sells types of malware (ransomware) to other operators for financial gain, in a model known as ransomware as a service (Raas).

On forums undergroundthe malware has been promoted as ‘worldwide’s fastest encryption software’.

“We’ve seen a marked trend in ransomware gangs operating an ‘affiliate model’ where they sell access to this malware at dark web in exchange for payment, often in cryptocurrencies,” said Toby Lewis, head of global threat analysis at Darktrace, a British cybersecurity firm.

“That nefarious strategy helped LockBit to scale its operations like a franchise,” Lewis added.

Lewis said the LockBit operators not only encrypted the files but also carried out a double extortion, in which they stole the data and threatened to release it online.

The LockBit ransomware group, like most ransomware groups, demands payment in crypto. Bitcoin has been the preferred method of payment historically but according to Sophos, a British cybersecurity firm, LockBit demands payments in other digital assets.

“Many groups like LockBit hackers have turned to the monero cryptocurrency, because of the increased anonymity it provides,” said Peter Mackenzie, who leads the incident response team at Sophos.