Suspected LockBit dev, facing US extradition, 'did it for the money'

Israeli authorities arrested Rostislav Panev, an alleged developer for the LockBit ransomware group, at the US request; a superseding complaint unsealed in December accuses him of writing builders, encryption code, tools to disable Windows Defender, AD propagation code, and providing access to LockBit control infrastructure. Investigators reportedly recovered source code for multiple builders (ESXi, Linux, Proxmox, Nutanix), a Conti variant, the StealBit exfiltration tool, and control-panel credentials; court documents allege he was paid about $10,000/month and worked with LockBit from 2019 through February 2024, contributing to a criminal operation that infected over 2,500 victims and extorted at least $500 million.