FBI busts ransomware gang that hacked dozens of companies

The FBI said on Monday that it had seized the servers of a ransomware and extortion gang called Radar (aka Disposer). At the time of writing, a message from law enforcement appears on Radar’s website, which reads: “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 mitigate the growing threat from ransomware.

In a statement from the FBI’s Cleveland, Ohio, field office, federal authorities said they seized the gang’s domains and servers located in the United Kingdom and Germany. The agency said Radar/Disposer had at least 43 victim companies since the gang began in August 2023.

The FBI said the Radar/Disposer group, led by a ringleader nicknamed “Brain,” exploits security flaws in the victim company’s systems, steals large amounts of data, and tampers with company data encryption. The gang holds data hostage in exchange for ransom, and threatens to publish the data if the ransom is not paid, a common tactic used by extortion gangs known as “double extortion.”