Ransomware Group Claims to Have 33TB of Americans’ Banking Info

(BrightPress.org) – Russian cybercrime group LockBit stole almost 33 terabytes of data from the U.S. Federal Reserves, including “American’s banking secrets,” in one of the most notorious cybercrimes in recent times.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Evolve Bank and Trust are allegedly the victims of the data breach and feared that the hackers could release critical information online if the ransom demands were not met.

While the U.S. authorities did not confirm the validity of these claims, LockBit released a range of URLs that contained multiple files belonging to the Evolve Bank and Trust.

This comes at a time when Evolve Bank was already facing Federal Reserve scrutiny for involvement in unsafe business practices. The group also asked the Fed to replace the “clinical idiot” negotiator who offered only $50,000 to stop them from releasing the data.

Meanwhile, some observers believe that the hacked data only belongs to Evolve Bank and the Fed remains safe from the data breach.

The Evolve spokesperson also confirmed the breach and stated that the relevant law enforcement agencies are investigating the data released on the dark web. The bank also claimed that there is no ongoing threat to its customers.

Josh Jacobson, the Director at the Cybersecurity specialization company HackerOne, stated that this latest hacking effort shows that “most integral” government organizations are also prone to cyberattacks these days. Jacobson also noted that any cyberattack on the Fed is not only detrimental to the U.S. but also poses severe consequences to global safety.

However, Jacobson also warned that LockBit has a history of creating “urgency,” which is a famous technique to force your opponent to bow down immediately.

Having said that, the group is also famous for its well-executed and highly organized ransomware and cyberattacks. It has been involved in executing more than 1,400 ransom attacks all over the world. Earlier this year, law enforcement managed to destroy the group’s online infrastructure, but that did not stop them from pursuing their hacking ambitions as they launched a new site and retaliated by hacking various American hospital websites.