LockBit claims Federal Reserve breach, demands ransom not to release stolen data
June 25, 2024 – Published on SiliconANGLE
Infamous ransomware gang LockBit is claiming to have breached the U.S. Federal Reserve and is threatening to release stolen banking information if a ransom payment is not made.
According to a listing on its dark web leaks site, LockBit claims to have “33 terabytes of juicy banking information containing Americans’ banking secrets” before going on to say, “You better hire another negotiator within 48 hours and fire this clinic idiot who values Americans’ bank secrecy at $50,000.”
The latter text appears, at face value, to suggest that someone representing the Federal Reserve had offered LockBit $50,000 so that it would not release the allegedly stolen data. The exact amount LockBit is chasing as a ransom payment is not specified, but the group has typically demanded much more; whatever the amount, LockBit is giving the Fed until June 25 at 8:27 p.m. UTC (2:27 p.m. EDT) before it may it start releasing the stolen data.
The Fed has not yet commented on the claims made by LockBit.
LockBit has not provided samples of the stolen data, which raises questions about whether the hack is legitimate. Though some are casting dispersions on LockBit, it’s not as if LockBit hasn’t hacked business and government bodies before.
Jason Baker, threat intelligence consultant with cybersecurity consulting services company GuidePoint Security, noted that LockBit has yet to provide evidence and that “33 terabytes would be an insane amount of data to exfil without getting caught.”
“What I can confidently say is that there is so far nothing to suggest this is accurate besides the word of the threat actor, but that it will nonetheless be amplified on social media,” Baker noted.
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