The US State Department ( FBI) offered a reward of up to US$10 million (A$13.5 million) on Thursday for information that leads to the identity or location of anybody with a senior leadership role in DarkSide, a cybercrime organization located in Russia, according to the FBI. According to the FBI, DarkSide was responsible for the May cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which resulted in a days-long outage, a surge in gas prices, panic purchasing, and localized gasoline shortages in the US Southeast. The State Department also announced a reward of up to $5 million for led to the arrest or conviction of anybody attempting to participate in a DarkSide ransomware event in any nation.
“By paying this reward, the United States ( US) underscores its commitment to safeguarding malware victims all across the world from cyber criminal exploitation,” the department said in a statement. Colonial Pipeline has stated that it paid the hackers roughly $5 million in Bitcoin to recover access to its systems. In June, the US Justice Department collected around $2.3 million of the ransom.
In July, the State Department ( US) announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information that leads to the identity or location of any individual who engages in hostile cyber operations against US vital infrastructure while working at the direction or under the authority of a foreign government.