A whistleblower has apparently outed the leader behind Trickbot and the infamous Conti ransomware gang.
The Conti ransomware gang gained infamy in recent years, in part due to large-scale attacks on victims that have included backup appliance supplier Exagrid, which paid a $2.6 million ransom to the group; a number of systems belonging to the Costa Rican government; and Ireland's public healthcare system.
In early 2022, shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the group pledged support to Russia and threatened the US, should it target Russian critical infrastructure. This, a $15 million reward from the US State Department, and some high profile leaks connected to the gang appeared to result in the group's breakup, though its former operators continued to conduct criminal activities.
This in itself is not so surprising, as many individual threat actors work with or for multiple groups. However, it appears the alleged mastermind behind Conti is also behind several other large-scale threat actor operations.
Early last month, an anonymous whistleblower under the alias "GangExposed" published leaks identifying the leader of Conti as 36-year-old Vitaly Nikolaevich Kovalev, an individual the US Treasury named in 2023 as a senior figure within the long-running Trickbot gang. GangExposed also named Kovalev, who operates under the alias "Stern," as responsible for Royal, a ransomware gang operating since 2023 that CISA previously highlighted last...
A man falsely accused of voting fraud in the conspiracy film “2000 Mules” tried to hold its producers responsible Friday, asking a federal judge to rule in his favor. But the moviemakers, includin...