Conti Ransomware gang has announced that it is going to shut down its digital operations and will come as a rebranded version split into multiple groups soon. According to the intelligence update provided by security vendor AdvIntel, the group was forced to take this action because of internal conflicts developed in its syndicate after its announcement to support Russia in its invasion in Ukraine.
From February this year or just after a few days after the start of the Russian war with Ukraine, the notorious organization announced its support to Putin and launched several cyber attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine.
This did not go down well with some gang members, who not only retaliated the actions, but leaked classical info about the gang operations to law enforcement agencies in UK and USA.
After the gang launched a ransomware attack on the government of Costa Rica, Biden led the government announced a $10m reward to those who disclose details about the hacking group and also ordered the Costa Rican government not to pay a ransom to hackers.
Hence, a strict vigil started on a digital note, thus blocking Conti from receiving payments and launching any further attacks.
Thence, in this way, the Conti Ransomware group seems to have dug its own grave and is repenting with its past move of supporting Russia in its invasion of Kyiv.
Note 1- Conti has assured that it will return by splitting its self into multiple ransomware distribution groups and this time it will target large-scale organizations that have the potential to pay double-digit figures in millions.
Note 2- AdvIntel announced the shutdown of Conti on May 20th, 2022, i.e. Friday, and hinted that the gang might bounce back within a couple of months to target large organizations in the Christmas season this year.
