US Govt Charged A dual Russian and Israeli citizen who allegedly created and maintained Lockbit’s malware code, while receiving more than $230,000 in cryptocurrency for his work. Rostislav Panev, 51, was arrested in Israel pending extradition to the US, making him the third member of the Lockbit ransomware group in custody.
There are officers Still looking for Lockbit’s alleged mastermind, Dmitry Khoroschevwith prizes up to $10 million. DOJ Claimed in May that “Khoroshev alone allegedly received at least $100 million in digital currency distributions through his developer shares of Lockbit ransom payments,” based on a 20 percent share of ransom payments by affiliates using the group’s software. on
Law enforcement linked Panev to Lockbit after finding login credentials on his computer for a dark web repository housing “several versions of Lockbit Builder,” a tool that allows members to “target specific victims of the Lockbit ransomware malware.” Allows for custom builds.”
Panev reportedly admitted to writing and maintaining Lockbit’s malware code in interviews with Israeli police. Some of the code he said can disable Windows Defender antivirus software, run malware on multiple computers on a network, and print Lockbit’s ransom note on all printers in the victim’s network. According to the complaint, Panev claimed that he did not realize at first that he was involved in illegal activities.
