Ransomware - FBI Kept American Corps Encrypted, Shutdown, and Losing Money

[grarpamp]

Yet another in news of FBI impropriety...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ransomware-fbi-revil-decryption-key/2021/09/21/4a9417d0-f15f-11eb-a452-4da5fe48582d_story.html

The FBI refrained for almost three weeks from helping to unlock the
computers of hundreds of businesses and institutions hobbled by a
major ransomware attack this summer, even though the bureau had
secretly obtained the digital key needed to do so, according to
several current and former U.S. officials. The key was obtained
through access to the servers of the Russia-based criminal gang behind
the July attack. Deploying it immediately could have helped the
victims, including schools and hospitals, avoid what analysts estimate
was millions of dollars in recovery costs. But the FBI held on to the
key, with the agreement of other agencies, in part because it was
planning to carry out an operation to disrupt the hackers, a group
known as REvil, and the bureau did not want to tip them off. Also, a
government assessment found the harm was not as severe as initially
feared. The planned takedown never occurred because in mid-July
REvil's platform went offline -- without U.S. government intervention
-- and the hackers disappeared before the FBI had a chance to execute
its plan, according to the current and former officials. The
previously unreported episode highlights the trade-offs law
enforcement officials face between trying to damage cyber criminal
networks and promptly helping the victims of ransomware -- malware
that encrypts data on computers, rendering them unusable.