Cuffed: Ukraine police collar six Clop ransomware gang suspects in joint raids with South Korean cops Ukrainian police have arrested six people, alleged to be members of the notorious Clop* ransomware gang, seizing cash, cars – and a number of Apple Mac laptops and desktops. "It was established that six defendants carried out attacks of malicious software such as 'ransomware' on the servers of American and [South] Korean …
The image claims that they would target pharmaceutical companies as they have made a profit form the pandemic, but I thought companies like Astra Zeneca etc. were doing the vaccines at cost, rather than for profit?
As an aside, I just wonder how many cyber crooks in Russia who have attacked Western companies or government organisations have been arrested in Russia. Or indeed, whether any Western cybercriminals have attacked Russian interests and been arrested by the Western police.
Where does a cyber crime take place?
At the keyboard or on a target on the other side of the world?
Its an interesting question.... made more difficult if the source and destination don't have extradition treaties...
Russia in particular has a law making it illegal to extradite any Russian citizen...
AstraZeneca are selling their vaccine at cost during the pandemic, but Pfizer are making billions in profit from selling theirs.
For Pfizer, their COVID-19 vaccine is the majority of their current sales, and they have a high profit margin. They plan on raising prices substantially in future when they are no longer selling directly to national governments but are dealing with health care providers directly, and so can set whatever price they want instead of having to negotiate with big national buyers.
So, if you are planning on targeting a pharmaceutical company, make sure you pick the right one. Some are raking in the cash while others don't have as much financial motivation to pay up.
There are too few valuable targets there - and probably far harder to extract cash from them - even Western cybercriminals probably prefer Western targets - moreover some social engineering techniques would need a knowledge of Russian they don't have.
State-level cyber attacks are another story, and of course police doesn't target them.
"Hopefully they get the same experience journalist all over the world get from the Russian gov."
You are forgetting that Russia is 'allowing' these groups to exist and operate in a country that has a track record of 'chopping off at the knees' anyone who Putin dislikes or who offends his image of what russia should be.
There must be some thought that these groups are allowed to operate because it suits Putin and/or they are linked in some way with the various services that were once know as the KGB et al.
I cannot believe that they are operating 'against' Putins wishes and somehow are evading detection or arrest !!!
Transfer of technology? There's none of that. Ransomware isn't high tech. It's just a lot of effort at breaking in, installing it, and getting the payment out. Writing the software isn't particularly complex.
Russia and Ukraine don't like one another, but Russians and Ukrainians could easily participate in a criminal group without earning the government's attention. As long as that group isn't helping Ukraine's government, Russia doesn't have a reason to want to hurt them. In fact, they do have a reason to like that as they can blame some of the cybercrime problem on Ukraine.
What a coincidence that this should happen just after they leaked all that spyplane stuff, pissing off the west's intelligence agencies en masse in so doing.
I hate to say I told you so, but.
First rule of a successful criminal career; No matter how big, nasty and teflon-coated you think you are, never step on the toes of any agency with a black ops section...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
