The arrest of the REvil hacker gang in Russia in mid-January made the cyber demons nervous.
On January 14, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed to have raided and arrested a number of personnel of the REvil ransomware gang. Previously, Europol also arrested personnel of the same gang on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
According to an analysis of conversations on the Dark Web forums conducted by security researchers at Trustwave SpiderLabs, the arrests scare cybercriminals, fearing they too will be caught.
"This is a big change. I don't want to go to jail," wrote a member of the forum, as quoted by us from Zdnet, Monday (24/1/2022).
"In fact, one thing is clear, anyone who hopes that the state will protect them will surely be disappointed," wrote another member.
Even the admins of the forum were nervous because they held information regarding the members of the forum. So they are afraid of being arrested if they don't want to reveal the information.
There are also those who think to leave Russia and operate in other countries, because Russia was previously considered a 'paradise' for hackers beyond the reach of law enforcement. But this step seems unrealistic to many hackers.
"It's still a seasoned cybercriminal who thinks that if they move from Russia, the risk of being caught by international law enforcement agencies is even greater," said Ziv Mador, VP security research at Trustwave SpiderLabs.
A number of hackers also blamed REvil for overreacting in its attacks. REvil, they say, is on law enforcement's radar for attacking high-profile targets in the United States.
"It's important to think before climbing up and encrypting multi-billion dollar companies, schools and state agencies. With whom they dare to fight," wrote one forum member.
"They (REvil) attack everywhere indefinitely and understand which country (attacked)," wrote another member.
"Some cybercriminals think REvil is too showcasing his abilities by attracting the attention of law enforcement and political forces. This kind of activity deprives them of sympathy from forum members," Mador wrote.
