The Ragnar Locker group, which has hit large companies with ransomware attacks, has warned it will leak victims’ data if they contact the police or FBI.
The hacking group said it would publish full data of victims if they contacted any law enforcement agencies in an announcement on its darknet website.
The ransomware gang said victims hiring "professional negotiators" are making the recovery process worse, as these negotiators often work with law enforcement through data recovery companies, according to Bleeping Computer.
"So from this moment we warn all our clients, if you will hire any recovery company for negotiations or if you will send requests to the police/FBI/investigators, we will consider this as a hostile intent and we will initiate the publication of whole compromised data immediately," a note read on its website.
Ilia Kolochenko, founder of ImmuniWeb, told IT Pro that such would disincentivize many victims from contacting the authorities.
“Nonetheless, in many ransomware cases, law enforcement agencies are of little to no help for the victims being overloaded with pending cases and complex investigations. But hiring external or internal professionals to meticulously investigate the incident is crucial for all victimized companies,” he said.
Chris Sedgwick, director of security operations at cyber security firm Talion, told ITPro the motive behind this announcement is to encourage more victims to pay their ransom demands.
RELATED RESOURCE
Defeating ransomware with unified security from WatchGuard
How SMBs can defend against the onslaught of ransomware attacks
“However, while this is a serious threat that should not be ignored, it is worth considering how Ragnar Locker will know when a company has contacted law enforcement, especially if they are working behind the scenes?! This seems to be more of a scare technique, designed to cause panic,” Sedgwick said.
Martin Jartelius, CSO at Outpost24, told IT Pro this must be seen as a partial success for the pressure applied after some earlier breaches aroused substantial attention from the US government, where the exerted pressure led to a temporary dismantling of one threat actors’ operations.
“Clearly the group is uncomfortable with such attention, which can only be seen as a positive change. This can’t continue to be a relatively risk-free form of digital international sabotage,” Jartelius said.
-
RSAC Conference 2025: The front line of cyber innovationITPro Podcast Ransomware, quantum computing, and an unsurprising focus on AI were highlights of this year's event
-
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're burying our heads in the sand on AI job lossesNews With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker groupNews An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabsNews An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operatorsNews A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attackNews A ransomware attack on the chilled food distributor highlights the supply chain risks within the retail sector
-
Scattered Spider: Who are the alleged hackers behind the M&S cyber attack?News The Scattered Spider group has been highly active in recent years
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reported
News Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
