The US authorities, together with law enforcement agencies in Bulgaria, conducted an operation aimed at disrupting the work of the NetWalker ransomware. In 2020, Netwalker was among the most common cryptographers.
As indicated by the US Department of Justice, NetWalker works on the model of Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) - developers provide access to the malware to affiliates who attack victims.
During the investigation, law enforcement officers charged a Canadian citizen. Thanks to the attacks with NetWalker, he received at least $27.6 million. Since April 2020, the accused has been involved in at least 91 attacks using NetWalker, law enforcement officials believe.
Authorities also seized $454,530 in cryptocurrency. This amount consists of the ransoms of three NetWalker victims.
In addition, Bulgarian law enforcement officers seized a "hidden resource in the darknet", which the attackers who distributed NetWalker used to communicate with the victims.
The hackers received more than $46 million in ransom money from their multiple victims, according to
Chainalysis, a company that helped authorities with the investigation.
NetWalker attacks affected at least 305 victims from 27 countries.