In the United States, a Russian national has been arrested on charges of distributing the LockBit ransomware

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of 20-year-old Russian national Ruslan Astamirov. He has been charged with distributing the LockBit ransomware program.

According to the court filings, the suspect was linked to LockBit attacks in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa from at least August 2020 to March 2023.

The Justice Department noted that Astamirov used various email addresses, IP addresses and other accounts to deploy LockBit and communicate with his victims.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as intentional hacking of protected computers and transmission of ransom demands.

Astamirov faces up to 25 years in prison on the counts.

In November 2022, in Canada arrested 33-year-old Russian Mikhail Vasilyev on charges of large-scale hacker attacks using LockBit. The United States sought his extradition.

In May 2023, OFAC imposed sanctions on Russian national Mikhail Matveev, among others accused of distributing LockBit. He operated under the aliases Wazawaka, Boriselcin and Uhodiransomwar.