Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The US Department of Justice has charged a Latvian woman for her role in allegedly developing the Trickbot malware, which was responsible for infecting millions of computers, targeting schools, hospitals, public utilities, and governments, the agency said in a news release.
The DOJ alleges that Alla Witte was part of a criminal organization known as the Trickbot Group that operated in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Suriname. She allegedly helped develop the malware which was used to enable ransomware demands and payments. Victims would receive a notice that their computers were encrypted, the DOJ said, and were directed to buy special software through a bitcoin address linked to the Trickbot Group to have their files decrypted.
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