LockBit Hackers Offer Free Ransomware Decryptor For Children’s Hospital – Informatics – News

The gang behind LockBit ransomware has apologized for hacking into a Canadian children’s hospital. Criminals also provided a decryptor for free. LockBit has a “policy” not to attack healthcare institutions.

A security researcher mocked the message on the LockBit website. In it, the hackers write that they “formally apologize” for the attack and offer the decryptor for free. With that decryptor, the hospital can decrypt all networks again. That process probably still costs a lot of time and money, which the criminals say nothing about. Also, the hackers say nothing about any data that might have been stolen in the attack. Data theft has become the standard in ransomware infections, so that a victim can be doubly extorted with the threat of making the data public. LockBit is a pioneer in this, but the criminals do not write if they also delete the data.

LockBit refers to a third party that allegedly hit the children’s hospital. That’s one affiliate which uses LockBit. LockBit is ransomware-as-a-service, where other criminals can use the service and then pay a percentage of the extortion revenue to the original creators.

It’s about an attack on the Canadian Hospital for Sick Children. This has become affected by ransomware on December 18th. By the end of the month, the hospital reported that half of its key systems were operational, including those needed for care. At the time, the hospital warned that many treatments would be delayed.

More and more ransomware groups claim to adhere to “ethical rules”. They often say they don’t hit hospitals, even though they often have inadequate security measures and are easy victims. LockBit is at the forefront of this; it is one of the first gangs to come up with that policy. LockBit also gives its affiliates these rules. The criminals claim in their forum post that they have banned the third party from the affiliate program, but it is unclear whether this ban is applied in practice.