Russia's domestic intelligence service, the FSB, has raided a number of members of the REvil gang, which is notorious for a number of cyber attacks, including ransomware attacks on large companies.
This step was taken by Russia at the request of the United States government, because many of the victims of the REvil ransomware attack came from the land of Uncle Sam.
In the raid, the FSB confiscated money worth USD 5.6 million from the 14 gang members. In addition there is also cryptocurrency worth USD 600 thousand and 20 luxury cars.
Apart from ransomware, REvil is also known as a malware maker and often steals money from bank accounts belonging to foreigners (non-Russian). The FSB claims that these raids have prevented the REvil gang from operating, as quoted from The Verge, Saturday (15/1/2022).
"Criminal syndicates are no longer operational and the information infrastructure used for crimes has been neutralized," the FSB said in a statement.
This cooperation between the US and Russia is quite interesting, because the US government has often asked Russia for help in catching cyber criminals located in the country and rarely yielded results.
In addition, Russia does not have extradition treaties with the US and many European countries, which are also areas of operation for these cybercriminals. As a result, the Russian government is often seen as protecting these cyber criminals.
But in October 2021, US President Joe Biden urged the Russian government to help them fight cybercriminals. That is after many companies in the US have fallen victim to ransomware attacks.
One of the companies that fell victim to the REvil ransomware was Colonial Pipeline, which is the largest supplier of fuel oil in the United States.