US shuts down major global ransomware group Hive

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department announced on Jan 26 it had shut down the Hive ransomware operation, which had extorted more than US$100mil (RM422.95mil) from more than 1,500 victims worldwide.US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that US authorities working with German and Netherlands law enforcement took over Hive’s website and servers after having infiltrated it for nearly seven months.The infiltration helped hundreds of companies avoid paying US$130 million in extortion demands made after Hive hacked and froze their data systems.Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco called the operation to infiltrate Hive a “21st-century cyber stakeout”.“We hacked the hackers,” she said.Hive operated as a ransomware service, meaning anyone could hire its software and other services to help hack into and lock down a target’s IT systems, and to process payments. Hive and the client would share the profits from the extortion.Since it first emerged in 2021 more than 1,500 companies and institutio