FBI Director Christopher Wray delivered the following remarks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., with partner agency officials announcing arrests and charges in connection with the Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware. (Remarks as delivered.)
Good afternoon. Today’s announcement of the arrest of Yaroslav Vasinskyi in Poland, and the charges against and seizure from Yevgeniy Polyanin, shows what’s possible when federal and international law enforcement work together with private sector companies. It also demonstrates our resolve in pursuing criminal enterprises that use ransomware to threaten our critical infrastructure, our public health and safety, and our economic vitality.
As the attorney general noted, this ransomware strain has wreaked havoc across the globe, extorting vast sums and inflicting significant damage with attacks on, to name just a few: JBS foods, local governments in Texas, hospitals, schools, 911 call centers, and, of course, Kaseya.
When Kaseya realized that some of their customers’ networks were infected with ransomware, they immediately took action. They worked to make sure both their own customers—managed service providers (MSPs)—and those MSPs’ customers downstream quickly disabled Kaseya’s software on their systems.