LockBit ransomware gang sends ‘friendly advice’ to new FBI Director Kash Patel
LockBit, the ransomware gang that has previously leaked customer data from crypto-friendly Evolve Bank and employee details from Canadian pharmacy chain London Drugs, has reportedly sent an open letter to new FBI Director Kash Patel in which it claims to possess private information that could destroy the organization.
Patel was appointed to his new position earlier this month following stints as a public defender in Florida, an attorney with the US Justice Department, and various roles in Donald Trump’s first administration.
As detailed on X by vx-underground, the message was shared via LockBit’s website and begins, “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 message, in which LockBit describes itself as a “worthy son of the American Fatherland,” then goes on to detail its concern for national security, and names the biggest threat to the country as a “trans-continental pro-state group that attacks critical infrastructure to steal our data for espionage and diversion.”
“These very real extortionists, liars, blackmailers, manipulators, known to you as subordinates — FBI agents, have flooded our country with fakes and declared me as a threat,” it warns.
Read more: LockBit countdown disappoints viewers with vague hints and a cartoon cat
To help Patel combat these individuals, the message included a password-protected file labeled “personal_gift_for_new_director_FBI_Kash_Patel.7z.” According to LockBit, this “best gift of all” contains “a guide, a roadmap, and some friendly advice” and is “the key against LIES, the cure against FAKES.”
To get his hands on this trove of sensitive information, Patel apparently needs to contact LockBit personally as it is “reluctant to publish this information that could not only negatively affect the reputation of the FBI, but destroy it as a STRUCTURE.”
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