REvil ransomware gang websites become inaccessible

WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) – Websites run by the ransomware gang REvil suddenly went inaccessible on Tuesday.

Ransomware gang websites may be unreliable, and it was not clear whether the site’s demise was momentary fluke or whether the hackers had been taken offline.

Acts of disappearance are common in the world of ransomware, where gangs tend to disappear and change their names when they start to draw too much heat.

The group’s payment portal and blog, which named and humiliated their victims who refused to pay, were inaccessible on Tuesday.

REvil – a Russian-linked cybercrime network that in recent weeks has claimed responsibility for a sprawling ransomware outbreak that has affected around 800 to 1,500 businesses worldwide – is already attracting the attention of the US government at the highest level .

President Joe Biden hinted on Friday that the United States may soon take more aggressive action on ransomware.

When a Reuters correspondent asked him on Friday whether it would make sense to attack Russian servers used in such intrusions, Biden paused, smiled and replied: “Yes.”

Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Howard Goller

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