A major international police operation has shut down the notorious ransomware gang BlackSuit, seizing its dark web infrastructure and sending a clear message to cybercriminals. Visitors to the group’s main website are no longer greeted with ransom demands, but with a banner from law enforcement.
“This site has been seized,” the banner reads, crediting US Homeland Security Investigations and a coalition of international partners. The takedown, part of a mission dubbed “Operation Checkmate,” also shuttered the group’s leak site and the portal they used to negotiate with victims.
This wasn’t just a US effort. It was a massive international sting operation, with police from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ukraine collaborating alongside the FBI and Europol. The private cybersecurity firm Bitdefender also assisted, praising the operation as a critical example of public-private partnership in the fight against cybercrime.
BlackSuit isn’t a small-time player. A US government report last year linked the group to Royal, a successor to the infamous Russian-linked Conti gang, making them a high-priority target for law enforcement.
While this is a big victory for the good guys, it’s probably not the end of BlackSuit. Security experts warn that taking down websites only slows these gangs down for a little while. It usually takes them a few weeks to get back online. The only way to truly stop them is to arrest the people behind the keyboards.
