In a birthday shout-out to Trump's newly appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Kash Patel, the supposed head of the LockBit ransomware cartel claims to have stolen data that could “destroy” the structure of the FBI.
“Dear Kash Patel! I wish you Happy Birthday! I also congratulate you on your position as the ninth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and wish you professional success, because it will be not easy for you,” the February 25th missive begins.
Apparently, out of "concern" for US national security, the Russian-linked ransomware leader, LockBitSupp, posted a long-winded diatribe on the group’s dark leak blog on Tuesday.
Labeled as already “published,” the 'personal birthday gift' of stolen materials intended for Patel is identified as “an archive of classified information,” which appears to be a parent directory of more than 250 file folders in alphabetical order, all dated May 29th, 2024.
Calling it “a guide, a roadmap, and some friendly advice,” the files were initially listed as only accessible by Patel and password-protected, along with a TOX ID to get in touch.
“Please contact me personally, I am so reluctant to publish this information that could not only negatively affect the reputation of the FBI, but destroy it as a STRUCTURE,” LockBitSupp said.
In the name of "national security"
Sworn into the coveted director position on February 21st, the as-of-today 45-year-old Patel is now the head of about 38,000 FBI employees, including over 10,000 agents and more than 60 offices and sub-offices across the globe.
Characterizing all FBI agents as “extortionists, liars, blackmailers, and professional manipulators,” LockbitSupp tells Patel his “whole life, like your life is filled with concern for National Security.”
“This information is the key against LIES, the cure against FAKES,” he writes.
The gang’s scribe further states to be “a worthy son of the American Fatherland” who only created his "pentest" business “to make us all, in our United States of America, a more secure place to live.”
Then, without naming names, the alleged LockBit leader says the real threat to the US is a “trans-continental pro-state group that attacks critical infrastructure to steal our data for Espionage and Diversion.” We can assume he is talking about China-backed hackers.
The soliloquy is followed by a picture of Patel standing next to US President Donald Trump, presumably in Washington DC (pictured above).
FBI vs LockBitSupp
On an interesting note, the parent directory is accompanied by another, even longer message by LockBit dated February 24th, 2024, seemingly written after the FBI was able to seize some of the group's servers and out the leader in a cat-and-mouse game that is apparently still ongoing.
Although this Cybernews journalist has never seen this specific message directed to LockBit supporters before, there is no guarantee it has not been circulated on the web previously.
The message exposes minute details on how the FBI was able to infiltrate LockBit’s servers on February 19th, 2024, due to LockBitSupp’s “personal negligence and irresponsibility” by not promptly updating a PHP critical vulnerability, while also claiming the FBI was only able to get hold of about 1,000 (or 2.5%) of LockBit’s 40,000 decryptors.
LockBitSupp further claims that the only reason why the FBI chose to go after the gang’s infrastructure at that time was because of his plans to leak stolen documents related to Fulton County, Georgia – one of the counties contested and sued by Trump for election misconduct after losing the 2020 US presidential re-election race to Joe Biden.
While all of those civil cases have since been dismissed or dropped, in response, the state of Georgia brought its own criminal case against Trump, accusing him and other co-defendants of election racketeering by trying to overturn the county's results. That case is still pending.
It’s not clear which court cases LockBitSupp was referring to, but he did state in the message that “If it wasn't for the FBI attack, the documents would have been released the same day.”
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