Cybersecurity
Ransomware Gang LockBit Revises Its Tactics to Get More Blackmail Money
- Group behind Boeing, ICBC hacks feels its lagging rivals
- Recommendations set ranges for ransoms based on target’s sales
LockBit first appeared on the hacker scene in September 2019.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
LockBit, the prolific ransomware gang that has launched attacks recently on Boeing Co. and Industrial Commercial Bank of China Ltd., among others, has revised the way it tries to blackmail victims because it’s disappointed with lower-than-expected ransom payments, according to a report published Thursday by Analyst1.
The Russian-linked group has claimed some of this year’s biggest hacks. Its victims have included the UK’s Royal Mail and Japan’s biggest maritime port. But the syndicate’s financial haul has paled in comparison to some rival gangs, said Anastasia Sentsova, a ransomware cybercrime researcher who authored the report for cyber threat-intelligence firm Analyst1.