Sixteen individuals who were part of Evil Corp, once believed to be the most significant cybercrime threat in the world, have been sanctioned in the UK, with their links to the Russian state and other prolific ransomware groups, including LockBit, exposed.

Sanctions have also been imposed by Australia and the US, who have unsealed an indictment against a key member of the group.

The National Crime Agency has today revealed that it has infiltrated the online criminal marketplace by setting up a number of sites purporting to offer DDoS-for-hire services.

Today’s announcement comes after the Agency chose to identify one of the sites currently being run by officers as part of a sustained programme of activity to disrupt and undermine DDoS as a criminal service.