Howard: Terry Cutler is now joining us from Montreal. Just before we were to record this episode on Thursday, news broke that police in Canada arrested a man believed to be part of the LockBit ransomware gang. It isn’t clear from the initial statements from the police if he is one of the operators or an affiliate who breaks into IT networks and deploys the ransomware. It’s unclear if he will face trial in Canada or the U.S., but American officials say he faces extradition. This is good news.
Terry Cutler: It is. Are the tables finally turning here? This is a significant ransomware gang, so we’ll be anxious to see what happens.
Howard: Certainly, the computers and the hard drives that police allegedly seized from his home could yield much information.
Terry: Absolutely. They found eight computers and 400,000 in cryptocurrency. I’m just surprised you know he could face a maximum of five years in prison.
Howard: That’s in the U.S., and those are the initial charges laid against him based on the information that police had at the time. Perhaps that was before the seizure of the computers. So, once they’ve got him into the U.S., he might face more charges. As we record this podcast, I hadn’t seen a statement from Canada on possible orders that he would face here first. But the arrest shows that police worldwide continue to go after threat actors, and international cooperation Is showing results.
Terry: Ransomware is the number one form of online extortion, and police are receiving so much pressure right now from an industry that you know they can’t find attackers. It’s very tough to break up these gangs because there’s so much anonymity online.
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