Arrest, Seizures Tied to Netwalker Ransomware
Summary: U.S. and Bulgarian authorities seized the darkweb site NetWalker used to publish stolen victim data, and a Canadian national, Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins of Gatineau, was charged in a Florida court with obtaining at least $27.6 million through the scheme. Chainalysis traced more than $46 million in NetWalker ransoms since the strain appeared in August 2019, with at least 305 victims across 27 countries and an average ransom that rose from $18,800 in 2019 to $65,000 in 2020.
What's compelling: NetWalker's affiliate program paid affiliates 20 percent, no less than 16 percent, and barred targeting Russia or CIS nations - a structure that let one top affiliate alone draw $27.6 million while the University of California, San Francisco paid $1.14 million in 116.4 bitcoins for a decryption key.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Data Breaches
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