FBI takes down ransomware gang that hacked dozens of companies

The FBI said Monday it seized the servers of a ransomware and extortion gang called Radar (aka Dispossessor). At the time of writing, Radar’s website features a message from law enforcement, reading: “This website has been seized.” It’s a rare win for the FBI, which along with global law enforcement agencies has struggled to contain and curtail the rising threat from ransomware.

In a statement from the FBI’s Cleveland, Oh., field office, the feds said they seized the gang’s domains and servers located in the United Kingdom and Germany. Radar/Dispossessor had at least 43 victim companies since the gang started out in August 2023, the agency said.

The FBI said the Radar/Dispossessor group, led by a ringleader named “Brain,” would exploit security flaws in a victim company’s systems, steal vast amounts of data, and scramble the company’s data with encryption. The gang would hold the data hostage in exchange for a ransom, and threaten to publish the data if the ransom wasn’t paid, a common tactic used by extortion gangs known as “double extortion.”