Eager to hunt down key leaders of the Conti ransomware gang, the United States Government is willing to pay up to $10 million for information leading to the identification and/or location of anyone holding a key leadership role in the group.
Additionally, the U.S. is offering uo to $5 million for information leading to the “arrest and/or conviction of any individual in any country conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in a Conti variant ransomware incident,” the U.S. State Department Said.
Offered under the Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), the initiative hopes to strike a major blow to the Conti ransomware group, which the Department says has been responsible for hundreds of ransomware incidents over the past two years.
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the Conti gang issued a threatening statement suggesting that they were backing the Russian government. They later clarified that they condemned the war and denied being the allies of any government.
In late March, an individual claiming to be a Ukrainian cybersecurity researcher leaked vast amounts of data belonging to the Conti group, including malware source code, chat logs, credentials, email addresses, and C&C server details.
Despite the exposure of the group’s operations, Conti ransomware activity surged, including a devasting attack on the computer systems of the Costa Rican government late last month.
In April, the State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on the attackers behind the June 2017 “NotPetya” cyberattacks that had a massive impact on companies globally.
