WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia took the significant step of imposing sanctions on a Russian web-hosting company known as Zservers, along with two individuals who manage the service, due to their involvement with the Russian ransomware group LockBit.
The U.S. Treasury Department, through its Office of Foreign Assets Control, along with their UK and Australian counterparts, made the announcement regarding Zservers, which is recognized as a “bulletproof” hosting provider. This type of web-hosting service typically ignores or circumvents law enforcement requests, thus enabling criminal activities to thrive.
Allegations against Zservers assert that it provided critical access to specialized servers tailored to evade law enforcement, serving as a foundation for LockBit’s operations. Since its inception in 2019, LockBit has emerged as a major ransomware threat, reportedly extorting over $120 million from countless victims on a global scale, making it the most widespread ransomware variant as noted by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Bradley T. Smith, the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury Department, remarked that this action highlights a unified effort to dismantle the intricate web of criminal operations, emphasizing the need to safeguard national security from such threats.
LockBit has been linked to numerous high-profile cyberattacks, including assaults on Boeing, a breach of the Industrial Commercial Bank of China in November 2023, attacks on the UK’s Royal Mail, the National Health Service, and the international law firm Allen and Overy.
Ransomware attacks represent one of the most substantial and disruptive forms of cybercrime, impacting local governments, judicial systems, healthcare institutions, educational facilities, and private enterprises. These crimes are notoriously challenging to address, as many of the affiliations reside in regions of the former Soviet Union, thus evading the jurisdiction of Western legal systems.
Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the State Department, reiterated that the measures taken on Tuesday reflect the United States’ steadfast commitment to collaborating with international allies to combat cybercrime and dismantle the infrastructures that empower such criminal activities aimed at citizens.
