During this week the Seville City Council experienced a hijacking of its computer systems, causing a technological outage in all digital services of the Consistory, and as they attempted to regain control without paying the more than one and a half million they requested in aid, little by little more was discovered about the attack this, like for example who is the mastermind behind it.

It seems that those responsible for this cyber attack are the recognized people cyber criminal group called LockBitBut who are they and how do they act?

This is LockBit

Despite the fact that the Seville City Council says that they are a cybercriminal group originating from the Netherlands, the truth is that their headquarters are in the Netherlands, but the cybercriminals are linked to Russia, although others point to China or the United States.

In turn, the original name of the band, ie born in 2019, it is the ABCD ransomware which alludes to its modus operandi, which consists of infect your computer or system with harmful viruses through encryption to block access to it on purpose then blackmails his victims in exchange for money.

What’s interesting about this cybergroup is how it works like a company, because it turns out the leader of the gang is a businessman. This is one of many other reasons why the malware code works so well a service, where they grant usage licenses to their ‘affiliates’ to launch attacks.

with ransom, Cybercriminals collect directly from victims and then provide commission to the group. This ransomware they “rent” stands out for its ease of use, that just by selecting a victim and ‘clicking’ they have launched an attack.

many victims

This ease in carrying out attacks in addition to terms of use makes cybercriminals happy to work with LockBit. Apparently it is continue to invest in technical innovation and logistics to try to maximize its benefits, which has led them to achieve this one of the most productive groups in this area in existence.

In the latter case, besides the attack on the Seville City Council, which was the most recent attack, there have been numerous attacks that carried out and hijacked the systems of many public institutions and companies.

For example at the beginning of the year they attacked a toronto children’s hospital (canada)even after seeing the negative impact and harm it causes to sick children They decided to restore control of the system for free.

But this is only a specific case, when Royal Mail System (British postal service) or when they strike a car salesman from the same country, asking for a high ransom, the last case mentioned is a Prize 60 million.