The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday, November 15, that Mikhael Vasiliev, arrested in late October in Canada, is suspected of being a major player in one of the world’s most lucrative ransomware organizations. He would be related to at least “115 attacks against French victims”.
The American and European authorities had announced, on Friday, November 11, the arrest at the end of October of this Russian-Canadian citizen, suspected of having deployed the LockBit ransomware to carry out attacks against important infrastructures and large industrial groups throughout the country. . world. A Europol statement said the 33-year-old was known for exorbitant ransom demands for him, ranging from 5 million to 70 million euros.
Almost 2,000 victims worldwide
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, this man “listed as a high-level target has been identified as probably affiliated with various ransomware groups and perpetrators of various attacks against victims spread around the world (Lockbit, Blackcat, Ragnarlocker, Darkside. …” “The first exploitation of computer equipment allowed the individual to be linked to the commission of 115 attacks against French victims and nearly 2,000 victims in the world,” according to the prosecution.
The procedure in France was opened in September 2020 in the cyber section of the Paris prosecutor’s office “following multiple ransomware attacks perpetrated against companies in all sectors, from SMEs to multinational companies.” It was “entrusted to the Center for the fight against digital crime (C3N) of the command of the Gendarmerie in cyberspace with the assistance of the Investigative Sections of Marseille and the Maritime Gendarmerie”.
Judicial information was then opened against the individual, “now the subject of an international arrest warrant from France and the United States.” He is awaiting extradition to the United States, the US Department of Justice said in a statement last week. The Russian-speaking group LockBit 3.0, which uses Lockbit ransomware, is most notorious for disrupting the Center hospitalier sud-francilien (CHSF) in Corbeil-Essonnes by launching a spectacular cyber attack in August. It also recently claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Thales.
Source: BFM TV
