LOWRansomware
Verified
Europe / Global

LockBit Affiliate Arrested — Europol Seizes $14M in Cryptocurrency

Friday, March 20, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC·Source: Europol / FBI

Updated: Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 08:00 AM UTC

Executive Summary

Europol arrests LockBit affiliate in Ukraine and seizes $14M in cryptocurrency. Suspect linked to attacks on 150+ organizations.

Analysis

Europol, in coordination with FBI and Ukrainian cyber police, arrested a key LockBit affiliate responsible for deploying ransomware against over 150 organizations across 30 countries. Authorities seized $14 million in cryptocurrency, source code for custom LockBit variants, and decryption keys that may help victims recover data. The arrest is part of Operation Cronos ongoing disruption of the LockBit ecosystem.
Source Attribution

Originally published by Europol / FBI on Mar 20, 2026. Verified by: Europol, FBI, Ukrainian Cyber Police.

Related Threats

CRITICALRansomware

Cisco fixes critical IMC auth bypass present in many products

Cisco has released patches for a critical vulnerability in its out-of-band management solution, present in many of its servers and appliances. The flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to gain admin access to the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC), which gives administrators remote control over servers even when the main OS is shut down. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-2009

CVE-2026-20093
CSO Online
HIGHRansomware

Akira ransomware group can achieve initial access to data encryption in less than an hour

A new report from Halcyon finds that the group also puts more effort than usual into developing working decryptors, likely to incentivize businesses to pay up. The post Akira ransomware group can achieve initial access to data encryption in less than an hour appeared first on CyberScoop .

CyberScoop
CRITICALRansomware

vSphere and BRICKSTORM Malware: A Defender's Guide

<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><p>Written by: Stuart Carrera</p> <hr/></div> <div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><h3><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Introduction</span><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></h3> <p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Building on </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/brickstorm-espionage-campaign

CVE-2026-22769
Mandiant