19 Apr, 2026

Black Basta boss makes it onto Interpol’s ‘Red Notice’ list

The identity of the Black Basta ransomware gang leader has been confirmed by law enforcement in Ukraine and Germany, and the individual has been added to the wanted list of Europol and Interpol. Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) identified Oleg Evgenievich Nefedov, a 35-year-old Russian national, as the leader of the Black Basta ransomware gang. The Ukrainian […]

3 mins read

Ukrainian extradited from Ireland on Conti ransomware charges

A Ukrainian national believed to be a member of the Conti ransomware operation has been extradited to the United States and faces charges that could get him 25 years in prison. 43-year-old Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko allegedly controlled data stolen from many of Conti victims and was involved in sending ransom notes as part of the […]

2 mins read

Germany doxxes Conti ransomware and TrickBot ring leader

The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) claims that Stern, the leader of the Trickbot and Conti cybercrime gangs, is a 36-year-old Russian named Vitaly Nikolaevich Kovalev. “The subject is suspected of having been the founder of the ‘Trickbot’ group, also known as ‘Wizard Spider,’” BKA said last week [English PDF], after another round […]

3 mins read

Microsoft Teams tactics, malware connect Black Basta, Cactus ransomware

New research has uncovered further links between the Black Basta and Cactus ransomware gangs, with members of both groups utilizing the same social engineering attacks and the BackConnect proxy malware for post-exploitation access to corporate networks. In January, Zscaler discovered a Zloader malware sample that contained what appeared to be a new DNS tunneling feature. Further research by […]

3 mins read