The FBI’s Cyber Division Assistant Director – Bryan Vorndran announced on Wednesday that they were now in the possession of in excess of 7,000 encryption keys used by LockBit in their ransomware attacks.
The announcement came during a keynote speech at the 2024 Boston Conference on Cyber Security.
Assistant Director Vorndran urged those who had been affected by LockBit to contact the FBI via their dedicated LockBit Victims Reporting form which is available at https://lockbitvictims.ic3.gov/.
By contacting the FBI, they can help the victim discover which encryption key is needed to unlock their files.
The keys have been collected by the FBI during forensic examination of the servers recovered during the recent operation against the cyber crime game – Operation Cronos – which occurred back in February this year.
During his keynote speech, Assistant Director Vorndran said that LockBit ransomware had been utilized in over 2,400 cyber attacks around the world—more than 1,800 of which impacted victims in the U.S. These attacks have targeted various sectors and racked up billions of dollars in damages.
The discovery of the keys will help many victims recover their data.
