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    <p>A police countdown promising to reveal the identity of the kingpin behind the crypto-ransomware group LockBit left spectators disappointed after it revealed only a handful of vague clues and a cartoon picture of a cat.</p>
    <p>Police seized the LockBit website this week before beginning the online countdown that it was claimed would eventually answer the ‘$10 million question,’ who is LockBitSupp? This is the online nickname for LockBit’s leader.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>However, anybody hoping for some grand reveal will likely have been left massively underwhelmed when, after a slight delay, authorities posted, “We know who he is. We know where he lives. We know how much he is worth. LockBitSupp has engaged with Law Enforcement :).”</p>
    <p>Alongside the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="cartoon" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/cartoon.html">cartoon</a> cat, police also posted a series of not-particularly-enlightening <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="hints" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/hints.html">hints</a>, namely that LockbitSupp doesn’t live in the US or the Netherlands, and that he drives a Mercedes.</p>
    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/24/4a6021db5a6df2714b0567e5622da66c.webp" alt class="wp-image-61300" width="768" height="446" srcset="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/24/4a6021db5a6df2714b0567e5622da66c.webp 1024w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/24/4a6021db5a6df2714b0567e5622da66c.webp 300w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/24/4a6021db5a6df2714b0567e5622da66c.webp 768w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/24/4a6021db5a6df2714b0567e5622da66c.webp 1264w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px">
     <figcaption class="wp-element-caption">
      A screenshot of the reveal, including a smirking cat said to be an emoji popular with the LockBit administrative staff.&nbsp;
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    <p><em>Read more: Finnish police can’t find suspected bitcoin blackmailer they just released</em></p>
    <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="LockBit" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/lockbit.html">LockBit</a> operates a ransomware-as-a-service that encrypts the data of its victims before demanding a <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">Crypto</a> ransom for its release. This week 200 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">Crypto</a> addresses linked to <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="LockBit" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/lockbit.html">LockBit</a> were frozen and their site seized by authorities, including the FBI, Europol, and the UK National Crime Agency.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
    <p>According to malware-focused X (formerly Twitter) account vx-underground, LockBit is reportedly preparing a “formal reply to law enforcement once they’re finished restoring their infrastructure.” Vx-underground also claims that affiliates of LockBit have continued to deploy their ransomware operations.</p>
    <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lockbit-reveal-was-an-anticlimax">LockBit reveal was an anticlimax</h2>
    <p>Understandably, today’s reveal didn’t live up to everyone’s standards, with many spectators led to believe that the countdown would reveal the definite identity of LockBitSupp. As Joe Tidy, the BBC’s cyber crime reporter put it, “That was a bit (a lot) of an anticlimax.”&nbsp;</p>
    <p>He posted, “Police teased all week that they would release the identity of <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="LockBit" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/lockbit.html">LockBit</a>’s head honcho today. 31,000 people visited the darknet page with a <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="countdown" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/countdown.html">countdown</a> timer to be met with…. a cat <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="cartoon" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/cartoon.html">cartoon</a>…”</p>
    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter">
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      <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
       <p lang="en" dir="ltr">My honest reaction to the LockBit "reveal".@vxunderground #LockBitch #LockBit #cronos #ransomware pic.twitter.com/wTybF5RUyq</p>— Memediant Threat Intel (@SASSnRaaS) February 23, 2024
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    <p>Other users said, “They had us waiting all that time for this? I expected something juicy,” while another complained, “Great, any non-us non-neather [sic] citizen [sic] that drives a Mercedes is a target .”</p>
    <p><em>Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on&nbsp;X,&nbsp;</em><em>Instagram</em><em>,&nbsp;</em><em>Bluesky</em><em>, and&nbsp;</em><em>Google News</em><em>, or subscribe to our&nbsp;</em><em>YouTube</em><em>&nbsp;channel.</em></p>
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<p>Source: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thebittimes.com/lockbit-countdown-disappoints-viewers-with-vague-hints-and-a-cartoon-cat-tbt80660.html">https://thebittimes.com/lockbit-countdown-disappoints-viewers-with-vague-hints-and-a-cartoon-cat-tbt80660.html</a></p>

LockBit countdown disappoints viewers with vague hints and a cartoon cat

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