A cybercrime epidemic is spreading in Russia. According to Numerama, the Global Summit Against Ransomware (malicious attacks on the Internet that demand ransom payment for data decryption) established on Monday, October 31, that the vast majority of such malicious acts were initiated from Russia . However, the Kremlin would not have decided to act.
Of the 793 ransomware incidents reported to U.S. authorities in the second half of 2021, “75% had a connection to Russia, its proxies, or people acting on its behalf,” says the report released after the summit and viewed by the digital news site.
All in all, the cost of ransomware attacks reached $20 billion in 2021, experts estimate. “74% of all money earned from ransomware attacks in 2021 ended up in the hands of hackers in Russia,” they also point out. The ranks of the vast networks of hackers would also include Ukrainian hackers, hence the fact that they have never taken a political position since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Some of the leaders of these small groups would be publicly known in Russia where they would live a sumptuous life, appearing at the wheel of luxury cars. Worse, their actions would even be covered by the Kremlin. In January 2022, Numerama explains, Moscow had officially announced the arrest of hackers from a well-known group REvil, which had notably targeted an American oil pipeline. However, it would seem that this arrest would have been only a setting in scene. The specialized site indicates that the leaders of this group would always live the high life in the Russian capital.
In recent months, the Russian authorities are profiting more than ever from the activity of these criminals, which mainly focus on Western countries and never hit Russia. Numerama gives in particular as an example, concerning France, the attacks against the Corbeil-Essonnes hospital in September or against the Bleuets maternity hospital in Paris in October, which were orchestrated from Russia. Furthermore, operations to dismantle ransomware take years to complete. A worrying sign on the activity of Russian hackers which could increase further in the coming months.
