FBI Arrests Radar Ransomware Gang That Has Hacked Many Companies

Illustration of ransomware (photo: Freepic)

JAKARTA - On Monday, August 12, the FBI managed to arrest a ransomware gang that has extorted many companies. This group is commonly called Radar or Dispossor, which is led by someone under the pseudonym "Brain".

In its official statement, the FBI claimed to have succeeded in dismantling the three Radar gang servers located in the US, three British servers, 18 German servers, eight US-based criminal domains, and one German-based criminal domain.

Since its establishment in August 2023, Radar/Dispossors have grown rapidly into an internationally impacted ransomware gang, which attacks businesses and small to medium scale organizations from the production, development, education, health care, financial services, and transportation sectors.

Initially focused on entities in the United States, an FBI investigation found that 43 companies that were victims of Radar came from various countries including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Honduras, India, Canada, Croatia, Peru, Poland, Great Britain, United Arab Emirates, and Germany.

Ransomware radar follows the same double extortion model as other ransomware variants by stealing victim data to request ransom in addition to encrypting the victim's system.

"Simply put, ransomware identified and attacked new victims and, is again a victim of current casualties," the FBI wrote on its official website quoted Tuesday, August 13.

Radar/Dispossesors usually work by identifying vulnerable computer systems, weak passwords, and a lack of two-factor authentication to isolate and attack victim companies.

Once criminals gain access to the system, they acquire administrator rights and gain access to those files. Real ransomware is then used for encryption. As a result, these companies can no longer access their own data.

After the company is attacked, if they do not contact the perpetrators of the crime, the group will then proactively contact other people at the victim's company, to increase pressure on extortion and increase the will to pay.

The investigation and joint arrest were carried out in collaboration with the UK National Crime Agency, the Bamberg General Prosecutor's Office, the Bavaria State Criminal Police Station (BLKA), and the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio.