‘We Hacked the Hackers’

Quite often, cybsecurity news is negative or bleak. We hear story after story about hacking groups successfully attacking schools, hospitals, and companies, and holding their data for ransom. For once, we have a story with a positive twist: We hacked the hackers.

As reported by Reuters, On Thursday, Jan. 26, the FBI announced it had covertly “hacked and disrupted” the ransomware group Hive. The FBI successfully stopped the gang from receiving $130 million from over 300 potential ransomware victims.

This news was delivered during a news conference, in which we learned government hackers infiltrated Hive and surveilled the group. They were able to discover who Hive was targeting and warn those targets before the hackers had a chance to act. Best yet, they successfully swiped the digital keys Hive relies on to unlock the data they hold for ransom from victims.  

A discerning eye would have known about the raid before the FBI’s official announcement. If you visited Hive’s website, the usual site would be missing, with the following message in its place: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized this site as part of coordinated law enforcement action taken against Hive Ransomware.” In addition, the German Federal Criminal Police and the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit seized Hive’s servers.

Hive was notorious: The hacking group targeted over 1,500 victims in 80 different countries. In those attacks, they collected more than $100 million in ransomware.

No arrests have been made as of yet, but, when asked, U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland said, “stay tuned.”