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On Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom announced economic sanctions against seven suspected cybercriminals in Russia, believed to be members of the Trickbot group. This was reported by the US Treasury, which speaks of coordinated action.
source: Belgium
For London, these are the first penalties under the new cybercrime authority, the press release said. The seven have been placed under travel bans and their assets in the US and UK will be frozen.
The group is responsible in the UK for “extorting at least £27m (€30.5m) from 49 victims,” Britain’s National Crime Agency reported. These include “hospitals, schools, businesses and local governments, although the real impact is likely to be much greater”.
The US Treasury stated that Trickbot “targeted hospitals and health centers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.” The group “deployed the ransomware against three medical facilities in Minnesota, disabling their IT and phone systems and diverting ambulances.”
“Members of the TrickBot group have publicly praised how easy it was to attack medical facilities and how quickly the ransom was transferred to the group,” the press release reads.
The US Treasury describes Russia as “another safe haven for cybercriminals, where groups like Trickbot can conduct malicious cyber activities against the US, UK and its partners”.
