A Russian-linked gang threatened to release ‘juicy banking information’ it claimed to have stolen from the Federal Reserve if their demands were not met.
LockBit announced on Monday that it had ransomed 33 terabytes of data from the central bank, giving US officials until Tuesday at 4:27pm ET to pay an undisclosed amount.
While the cybercriminals kept their promise by uploading financial information on to the dark web, it appeared they only included links to a Federal Reserve press link from mid-June and others led to Evolve Bank and Trust’s data from a previous hack.
Some experts speculated that this was merely an attempt by LockBit to improve its standing in the hacking community and to gain attention.
LockBit announced on Monday that it had ransomed 33 terabytes of data from the central bank, giving US officials until Tuesday at 4:27pm ET to pay an undisclosed amount
David Hatter, director of business growth at InTrust IT, told DailyMail.com: ‘Despite previous high-profile attacks, LockBit’s power seems to have been seriously diminished and their reputation damaged after a major international law enforcement operation named Cronos seized their ransomware infrastructure.’
DailyMail.com has contacted the Federal Reserve for comment.
LockBit revealed the central bank had become its latest victim in a statement on the dark web with a countdown until it releases the supposed stolen data.
‘Federal banking is the term for the way the Federal Reserve of the United States distributes its money,’ reads the announcement.
The Reserve operates twelve banking districts around the country that oversee money distribution within their respective districts.
‘The twelve cities which are home to the Reserve Banks are Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond, Atlanta, Dallas, Saint Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and San Francisco.’
’33 terabytes of juicy banking information containing Americans’ banking secrets. You better hire another negotiator within 48 hours, and fire this clinical idiot who values Americans’ bank secrecy at $50,000.’
For comparison, 6.5 million documents can be stored on one terabyte.
News broke late Tuesday afternoon that LockBit had uploaded 21 links to the dark web, but cybersecurity experts who viewed the data noted ‘there is still no trace of ‘secret’ files, but the analysis is ongoing.’
At 4:27pm ET, news broke that LockBit had uploaded 21 links to the dark web
HackManac, a Dubi-based company that analyzes cyber attacks and provides consultancy services, posted on X: ‘There is an interesting article about Evolve Bank from June 18th stating that the US Federal Reserve Board has issued a cease and desist order against Evolve Bancorp and its subsidiary, Evolve Bank & Trust, for deficiencies in risk management and AML compliance.’
The press release was from by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announcing action against Evolve.
‘Examinations conducted in 2023 found that Evolve engaged in unsafe and unsound banking practices by failing to have in place an effective risk management framework for those partnerships,’ the release reads.
‘In addition, Evolve did not maintain an effective risk management program or controls sufficient to comply with anti-money laundering laws and laws protecting consumers.’
Every other link on the site leads to directories containing data belonging to Evolve.
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