Russia's "politically motivated" REvil raid could be used as leverage, experts warn
The cyber security industry says the FSB's arrests are “unlikely” to signal a change in Russia’s policy


Russia's decision to raid and arrest numerous members of the REvil ransomware group was likely “politically motivated” and could be used by the country used as “leverage”.
That's according to Chris Morgan, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at cyber security company Digital Shadows, who told IT Pro that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) “raided REvil knowing that the group were high on the priority list for the US, while considering that their removal would have a small impact on the current ransomware landscape”.
Following the arrests of 14 suspects on Friday, Moscow’s Tverskoi Court has named the eight individuals to be charged as Roman Muromsky, Andrey Bessonov, Golovachuk M.A., Zayets A.N., Khansvyarov R.A., Korotayev D.V., Puzyrevsky D.D., and Malozemov A.V.
The arrests took place a day after the Ukrainian government’s websites were taken down by a cyber attack on Friday, which was unofficially attributed to Russian-aligned threat actors.
“It’s likely that the arrests against REvil members were politically motivated, with Russia looking to use the event as leverage; it could be debated that this may relate to sanctions against Russia recently proposed in the US, or the developing situation on Ukraine's border,” said Morgan. Russia has reportedly deployed around 10,000 troops to the border.
Cybereason chief security officer Sam Curry said that the arrests are “unlikely” to signal a change in Russia’s policy, which in the past has been accused of sponsoring cyber criminals.
“Far more likely is providing a counterpoint to other news on the world stage, to confuse or perhaps even to provide legitimacy to a crackdown on criminals who are “state ignored” (i.e. sanctioned) to keep them in line and playing by the rules domestically,” he told IT Pro.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Curry added that the arrests could lead to less ransomware attacks – for now at least.
RELATED RESOURCE
Modernise endpoint protection and leave your legacy challenges behind
The risk of keeping your legacy endpoint security tools
“The bottom line for those outside Russia is that a major player is taking a hit, which will mean a reduction in victims for the time being. As with most criminal syndicates, though, there’s always another player around to fill the void. And until Russia actually changes domestic policy with regard to International cyber crime, the rest of the world shouldn’t read too much into it,” he said.
However, Morgan believes that the arrests will have a “small impact on the current ransomware landscape”, noting that REvil hadn’t conducted any attacks since October 2021.
“The FSB stated that the arrests were made following 'an appeal' from the US authorities, while the hacking group had in the past targeted American companies including Apple and JBS.
“While the specific dialogue between the United States and Russia on this operation are unclear, this statement possibly represents a backhanded message highlighting that Russian authorities can be used to stop ransomware activity, but only under certain circumstances.”
Having only graduated from City University in 2019, Sabina has already demonstrated her abilities as a keen writer and effective journalist. Currently a content writer for Drapers, Sabina spent a number of years writing for ITPro, specialising in networking and telecommunications, as well as charting the efforts of technology companies to improve their inclusion and diversity strategies, a topic close to her heart.
Sabina has also held a number of editorial roles at Harper's Bazaar, Cube Collective, and HighClouds.
-
AI coding tools are booming – and developers in this one country are by far the most frequent users
News AI coding tools are soaring in popularity worldwide, but developers in one particular country are among the most frequent users.
-
Cisco warns of critical flaw in Unified Communications Manager – so you better patch now
News While the bug doesn't appear to have been exploited in the wild, Cisco customers are advised to move fast to apply a patch
-
A prolific ransomware group says it’s shutting down and giving out free decryption keys to victims – but cyber experts warn it's not exactly a 'gesture of goodwill'
News The Hunters International ransomware group is rebranding and switching tactics
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culprits
News Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackers
News While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker group
News 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 tabs
News An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operators
News A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attack
News 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