The United States seized 1 million dollars worth of Bitcoin and related servers from a Russian ransomware group.

On August 12, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies seized four servers, nine domains, and approximately $1 million in Bitcoin, assets linked to a notorious Russian ransomware group that is accused of attacking hundreds of organizations across critical sectors. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that the operation was launched on July 24, carried out jointly by agencies from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, the UK, Ukraine, Lithuania, and other countries, targeting infrastructure associated with BlackSuit and Royal ransomware. Investigators believe that these two ransomware variants were developed by the same cybercrime group. Authorities stated that since 2022, the group has extorted over $500 million in ransoms, with the highest single ransom amount reaching $60 million. It is alleged that during this period, they attacked more than 450 victims in the U.S., including hospitals, schools, police departments, energy companies, and government agencies, illegally gaining at least $370 million. The cryptocurrency seized in this operation was valued at $1,091,453 at the time of seizure, originating from a digital wallet frozen by an exchange in January 2024. According to court documents, this fund included part of the Bitcoin ransom paid by a victim in April 2023, with the total ransom amounting to $1.45 million.