FBI Takes Down BlackCat Ransomware, Releases Free Decryption Tool

U.S. and international law enforcement agencies disrupted the BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware operation, seized infrastructure and published a decryptor that helped more than 500 victims; the FBI used a confidential human source to access the group's TOR panel and collected hundreds of key pairs. BlackCat — a Rust-based RaaS using double extortion and affiliate operators — is attributed to over 1,000 victims and roughly $300M in illicit revenue; despite the takedown the group has attempted to restore leak sites and affiliates may migrate to rivals like LockBit, so the threat remains active.