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2w ago

U.S. and Allies Disrupt BlackSuit Ransomware Infrastructure, Seize $1.09 Million

Tracing the funds back to an April 2023 Bitcoin ransom payment, authorities highlight ongoing challenges in holding BlackSuit operators to account.

Blacksuit
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Overview

  • On July 24, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service, IRS-CI and the FBI joined international partners in seizing four servers and nine dark web domains used by BlackSuit and its Royal variant.
  • A federal warrant unsealed August 11 authorized the seizure of approximately $1,091,453 in virtual currency derived from a 49.31 BTC ransom paid on April 4, 2023 that was later frozen by a cryptocurrency exchange.
  • BlackSuit and Royal have extorted more than 450 U.S. victims across healthcare, energy, education, public safety and government sectors with ransom demands surpassing $370 million since 2022.
  • The operation involved law enforcement agencies in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, France, Canada, Ukraine and Lithuania working alongside U.S. investigators.
  • Officials acknowledge that no suspects have been arrested and that the recovered funds represent only a fraction of the group’s total illicit proceeds, raising concerns about potential reemergence.