US authorities seize servers for Hive ransomware group

US authorities have seized the servers of the notorious Hive ransomware group that has received more than $100m in extortion payments from thousands of victims after law enforcement infiltrated its systems and captured the keys to decrypt its attack software, the justice department announced on Thursday.

Ransomware is a type of malicious attack that infiltrates a computer network and makes files inaccessible. Hackers then demand a ransom to unlock the system, typically in the form of cryptocurrency. The Hive group was known to re-infiltrate networks that tried to circumvent their attacks.

The group was particularly notorious for targeting hospitals and schools. In the summer of 2021, Hive carried out a ransomware attack on a hospital in the US midwest that prevented it from accepting new patients and forced it to run all of its operations with paper records.

The treasury department has estimated that ransomware attacks cost US organizations $886m in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.

Russia does not extradite its citizens, and the White House has failed to convince the Kremlin in recent years to prosecute its cybercriminals. At least some of the most infamous hacking gangs, including the Fancy Bears group, have been connected to its state security services.