The “creature from Jekyll Island” called “the Federal Reserve” offered to pay ransomware group LockBit $50,000 nuisance money to go away. They didn’t take it. Now it’s time to put up or shut up. The hackers might have been able to squeeze a better compromise out of the fed if they had posted a few samples of the data they allegedly exfiltrated. The deadline for release is Tuesday. Watch for “33 terabytes of juicy banking information containing Americans’ banking secrets” to become freely available to all. Or not.
Federal Reserve extortion
The Federal Reserve might have been hacked by LockBit. They’re the group who brought Ransomware-as-a-Service to the masses. British intelligence is convinced that Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev is LockBit’s leader.
That’s why the U.S. hit him with sanctions recently. On Tuesday, June 25, Dmitry may get his revenge.
In a post to one of those “dark web” hangouts, LockBit complained that “33 terabytes of juicy banking information containing Americans’ banking secrets” is worth a lot more than the peanuts the federal reserve is offering.
The United States Federal Reserve has been allegedly hacked by a ransomware group called LockBit.
The declaration was made through a post on the Dark Web.
The group claims to have extracted 33 terabytes of sensitive banking information.
The data reportedly includes… pic.twitter.com/xgdGjExTQd
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) June 24, 2024
“You better hire another negotiator within 48 hours, and fire this clinical idiot who values Americans’ bank secrecy at $50,000.”
The group’s already credited with collecting “millions of dollars in ransom payments,” since 2019. It’s hard to box in a cyber-criminal.
“Although the group’s online infrastructure was shuttered by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in February, LockBit has managed to reemerge and continue its operations.” The federal reserve is a juicy target with bottomless pockets.

Experts skeptical of claims
Cybersecurity experts worldwide are “skeptical of claims regarding the Federal Reserve and note that LockBit has not released any sample data.” One pundit observed on X that “If Lockbit ransomware group actually ransomed the United States Federal Reserve it would be DEFCON 2 and the administrators would need to worry about a drone strike.”
If they did manage a breach, it was probably a minor incursion. Maybe “LockBit took down their coffee machine and they can’t watch anime or something.”
DailyDot is pointing out the obvious. “Given that LockBit claims the data will be published on Tuesday, assuming the Federal Reserve doesn’t pay the alleged ransom, it won’t be long until everyone’s questions are answered.”
Ransomware group Lockbit claims to have hacked the Federal Reserve and says it will release 33 TB of "juicy banking information containing Americans’ banking secrets."
The claim has been met with skepticism as the group has yet to publish any sample of the stolen data.
The… pic.twitter.com/CoMUSJoSbJ
— TFTC (@TFTC21) June 24, 2024
Whether he’s part of LockBit or not, Joe Biden is “offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Khoroshev.”
The experts are pretty much in agreement that there isn’t going to be any earth shattering release of data. If the Russians really are behind this, they may be playing the Federal Reserve like a fish on the line.
Let them think the threat is safe to ignore until everyone is watching for it like a hawk. Then release the real goods into the wild. Maybe a gigabyte at a time, with a price tag which goes up $50,000 with each daily installment.