US offers $10 million for information on BlackMatter ransomware operators
The sizeable reward will be given to anyone who can aid the investigation into those believed to be behind the Colonial Pipeline attack
The US Department of State has said it will issue a reward up to $10 million (£7.4 million) to any individual who can provide it with information leading to the identification or location of any senior member of the group behind the BlackMatter ransomware tool.
An additional reward of up to $5 million (£3.7 million) will also be given to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest or conviction of anyone involved in the distribution, or attempted distribution, of the ransomware.
The Department of State announced the initiative on Thursday, stepping up its pursuit of those who may be involved in the cyber attack on Colonial Pipeline earlier this year.
DarkSide was the malware believed to be used in the attack, which forced the US to suspend 5,500 miles of pipeline between Texas and New York, wreaking havoc on the nation's fuel supplies and spiking oil prices.
As IT Pro reported earlier this week, the BlackMatter group had confirmed it was ceasing operation following 'mounting pressure from law enforcement' and is believed to be a rebrand of the group which distributed DarkSide in the US earlier this year.
The ransomware gang issued the statement to its ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) portal, which is used by clients, past and present, to access their copy of BlackMatter.
Experts have said that due to BlackMatter's recent success, and the lucrative nature of the business, it's likely the group will re-emerge - most likely under a different alias.
RELATED RESOURCE
The best defence against ransomware
How ransomware is evolving and how to defend against it
"In offering this reward, the United States demonstrates its commitment to protecting ransomware victims around the world from exploitation by cyber criminals," the department said in a statement. "The United States looks to nations who harbour ransomware criminals that are willing to bring justice for those victim businesses and organisations affected by ransomware."
Following the attack on Colonial Pipeline, its CEO confirmed the company paid a $4.4 million (£3.2 million) ransom to the hackers, $2.3 million (£1.7 million) of which was subsequently recovered by the Department of Justice.
The reward is being offered under the Department of State’s Transnational Organised Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), which has led to the convictions of more than 75 transnational criminals. The TOCRP has paid more than $135 million (£100.4 million) in rewards to date.
The rewards programme is split into two branches: one is focused on the distribution of narcotics, and the other is for transnational organised crime. Both can issue rewards of up to $25 million (£18.5 million) for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of members of significant transnational criminal organisations.
-
Dell PowerRack launches at Dell Technologies World 2026 as a ‘turnkey’ networking, storage, and compute system for AIThe newly announced solution is designed to help organizations get up and running at super speed
-
Dell unveils Deskside Agentic AI at Dell Technologies World 2026News Deskside Agentic AI is the latest in the Dell AI Factory with Nvidia stable, with the company saying it further demonstrates its end-to-end enterprise AI capability
-
Instructure chose to a pay ransom following the Canvas cyber attack – research shows more than half of security leaders would follow suitAnalysis Opting to pay ransoms creates huge risks for enterprises – you’re relying on the word of criminals
-
Ransomware negotiator sentenced for role in major cyber crime groupNews Deniss Zolotarjovs was a key player in a group associated with Conti
-
Threat actors ditch ‘spray and pray’ attacks in shift to targeted exploitationNews A dip in ransomware volumes points to a more targeted approach focused on vulnerability exploitation
-
Security leaders overconfident about ransomware recoveryNews Few manage to recover all their data, and many experience business disruption
-
German authorities want your help finding the hackers behind GandCrab and REvilNews Daniil Maksimovich Shchukin and Anatoly Sergeevitsch Kravchuk are believed to have made millions from ransomware as a service schemes
-
The rise of teen hackers ‘makes for a good headline’, but cyber crime activities peak later in life
News With family responsibilities and mortgages to pay, it's not teenagers dishing out malware or carrying out cyber extortion
-
Ransomware gangs are using employee monitoring software as a springboard for cyber attacks
News Two attempted attacks aimed to exploit Net Monitor for Employees Professional and SimpleHelp
-
Ransomware gangs are sharing virtual machines to wage cyber attacks on the cheap – but it could be their undoingNews Thousands of attacker servers all had the same autogenerated Windows hostnames, according to Sophos
