The US Justice Department announced on Thursday that a LockBit ransomware developer arrested in Israel in 2024 has been extradited to the United States, where he faces charges related to his role in the cybercrime operation.
Rostislav Panev, aged 51, is a dual Russian and Israeli national. He has been accused of helping develop the LockBit ransomware, which he allegedly admitted after he was taken into custody by Israeli authorities in August 2024.
Authorities have accused him of working on the LockBit malware between June 2022 and February 2024, for which he received roughly $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency per month. He received more than $230,000 for his work, according to the DoJ.
Panev is said to have admitted that he did coding, development and consulting work for the LockBit group. The man admitted working on code designed to disable security software, spread the malware in a network, and print the ransom note on the victim’s printers.
The Russian-Israeli national exchanged private messages on a cybercrime forum with LockBitSupp, LockBit’s main administrator, who is believed to be Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev.
Law enforcement dealt a major blow to the LockBit operation last year after hacking its infrastructure. Authorities say the cybercriminals targeted more than 2,500 organizations across 120 countries and received at least $500 million in ransom payments from their victims.
The US has charged seven individuals accused of being involved in the LockBit operation. Some of them are in custody, but Khoroshev and others are still at large, with rewards of up to $10 million being offered for information that leads to their capture.
One LockBit affiliate who had been living in Canada was sentenced to nearly four years in prison last year. Other hackers involved in LockBit attacks have been charged for their role in other cybercrime activities.
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