US, UK, and Australia impose sanctions against leader of Russian hacker group LockBit
Archive photo: Australia imposing sanctions on the leader of a Russian hacking group (Getty Images)
The US, UK, and Australia have imposed sanctions against one of the leaders of the Russian hacker group known as LockBit. The individual targeted is Dmitry Khoroshhev, announced Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Secretary of State for International Trade of Great Britain.
It is noted that Khoroshev's assets will be frozen, and he will face a travel ban to a number of countries.
He has been identified as one of the leaders of the LockBit group, which is involved in extortion and has stolen over $1 billion worldwide.
"In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cyber-criminal activity emanating from Russia," said Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
What preceded
LockBit was a Russian extortionist group, which was successfully identified back in 2019. Last year, the US Department of Justice charged Russian national Ruslan Astamirov, a member of the LockBit hacker group.
In February, a series of law enforcement agencies from the US, UK, and Europol conducted an operation against cybercriminals associated with LockBit.
Later, it became known that the Security Service of Ukraine was also involved in exposing the Russian hackers.
