The group claimed to have published data stolen from the company today, which it describes as “very sensitive” and “high risk” in nature. health service vendor Advanced and IT giant Accenture, added Thales to its leak site on October 31. LockBit, a prominent ransomware operation that’s previously claimed attacks on tech manufacturer Foxconn, U.K. However, France’s involvement in the operation suggests Vasiliev could be linked to a recent attack on French aerospace and defense group Thales. Specific victims targeted by the suspected LockBit operator were not named by Europol. “Vasiliev could well lead law enforcement to others involved in the operation.” “Unfortunately, the group will probably rebrand, but this is nonetheless a significant arrest,” Callow added. “The FBI’s persistent investigative efforts, in close collaboration with our federal and international partners, illustrates our commitment to using all of our resources to ensure we protect the American public from these global cyber threat actors.”īrett Callow, a ransomware expert and threat analyst at Emisosft, tells TechCrunch that Vasiliev’s arrest could signal the end of the LockBit operation “as other cybercriminals will lose confidence in the integrity of the operation. “Yesterday’s successful arrest demonstrates our ability to maintain and apply relentless pressure against our adversaries,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. If convicted, Vasiliev faces a maximum of five years in prison. Vasiliev is awaiting extradition to the United States, where he is charged with conspiracy to intentionally damage protected computers and to transmit ransom demands. The EU police agency added that he is known for trying to extort victims with ransom demands between €5 to €70 million.Ī separate press release from the Department of Justice notes that LockBit has claimed at least 1,000 victims in the United States and has extracted tens of millions of dollars in actual ransom payments from their victims. The arrest follows a similar action in Ukraine in October last year when a joint international law enforcement operation led to the arrest of two of his accomplices.Įuropol says Vasiliev, described as “one of the world’s most prolific ransomware operators,” was one of its high-value targets due to his involvement in numerous high-profile ransomware cases. During the arrest, police seized eight computers, 32 external hard drives and €400,000 in cryptocurrencies, Europol said.
Mikhail Vasiliev, 33, was arrested in Ontario, Canada on October 26 following an investigation led by the French National Gendarmerie with the help of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, the FBI and the Canadian Royal Canadian Mounted Police. IQM thus now plans to expand its operations in Germany via its team in Munich.A dual Russian and Canadian national linked to the LockBit ransomware operation has been arrested over his alleged involvement in attacks targeting critical infrastructure and large industrial groups worldwide. Previously, the German government said it would put €2bn into commissioning at least two quantum computers. Mikko Möttönen, Chief Scientist and co-founder of IQM. IQM staff is excited to work together with VTT, Aalto University, and CSC in this ecosystem,” rejoices Prof.
“It has been a mind-blowing forty-million past week for quantum computers in Finland. The news comes as the Finnish government announced – only last week – that it would acquire a quantum computer with €20.7M for the Finnish State Research center VTT.
Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM said: “Quantum computers will be funded by European governments, supporting IQM ́s expansion strategy to build quantum computers in Germany,” in a statement. IQM has hired a lot of engineers in its short life, and now says it plans to hire “one quantum engineer per week” on the pathway to commercializing its technology through the collaborative design of quantum-computing hardware and applications.ĭr. The company previously raised a €11.4M seed round. This takes the company’s funding to over €32M. This is in addition to a raise of €3.3M from the Business Finland government agency. IQM Finland Oy (IQM), a European startup which makes hardware for quantum computers, has raised a €15M equity investment round from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers.
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