Feds Bust Up Hive Gang, $10 Million Reward Offered for Links With Foreign Governments

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The U.S. Justice Department announced it had conducted a months-long, unprecedented campaign against the Hive ransomware group during which the FBI penetrated Hive’s computer networks, captured its decryption keys, and offered them to over 1,300 current and past victims worldwide, preventing victims from having to pay $130 million in ransom demanded.

“In a 21st-century cyber stakeout, our investigative team turned the tables on Hive, swiping their decryption keys, passing them to victims, and ultimately averting more than $130 million in ransomware payments. We will continue to strike back against cybercrime using any means possible and place victims at the center of our efforts to mitigate the cyber threat,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a press release. Monaco put it more succinctly during the press conference announcing the campaign: “We have hacked the hackers,” she said.

The department also announced that, in coordination with German law enforcement and the Netherlan…