Law enforcement agencies and Bitdefender launch new tool to fight ransomware

Edit: In 2022, Comparitech launched a ransomware map. It updates weekly and pinpoints the locations of each ransomware attack in the US, from 2018 to present day. Where available, it includes the ransom amount, whether or not the ransom was paid, the entity and industry that was targeted, and the strain of ransomware used. 

This tool allows victims of ransomware to regain access to their information encrypted by hackers, without having to pay demanded ransoms. The tool is released in partnership with law enforcement agencies from Austria (Bundeskriminalambt – BMI), Belgium (Federal Computer Crime Unit), Bulgaria (Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit), France (Police Judiciaire de Paris – Befti), Germany (LKA Baden-Württemberg), the Netherlands (High Tech Crime Unit), Romania (DIICOT), the United Kingdom (NCA and Metropolitan Police), the United States (FBI) and Europol and its Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), together with the private partner Bitdefender.

Launched in January 2018, GandCrab quickly became the go-to tool for hackers for affiliate-based ransomware, holding 50% share of all the ransomware market by mid-2018, according to the official press release. Set as a ransomware-as-a-service licensing model, distributors could buy the ransomware on dark web markets and spread it among their victims.

The GandCrab operators recently claimed that they have extorted more than USD 2 billion from victims. It is likely that they subjected over 1.5 million victims all over the world to this ransomware.