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FBI Stonewalling Congress on Kaseya Ransomware Investigation
The Epoch Times ^ | November 16, 2021 | Ken Silva

Posted on 11/16/2021 5:11:32 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Lawmakers say they have received scant information from the FBI about a recent ransomware investigation, with top bureau officials offering few answers about decisions that cost U.S. businesses millions of dollars and produced questionable results.

During a Nov. 16 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on ransomware, the FBI was questioned about its handling of the July attack against U.S. IT company Kaseya—in which hackers from the ransomware group REvil exploited a vulnerability in Kaseya software to exfiltrate the data of some 1,500 U.S. businesses, schools, hospitals, and other entities.

In September, it was revealed that the FBI had obtained a decryption key in July that would have allowed the hundreds of victim entities to retrieve their data, but agents withheld the key because they didn’t want to tip off REvil about a major law enforcement operation they were planning.

The FBI never had a chance to execute its planned operation against REvil, as the group went offline in late July.

The FBI has come under scrutiny from Congress over its handling of the failed operation, which is said to have cost businesses millions of dollars because of the costs associated with retrieving their data. Some entities rebuilt their systems or retrieved backup copies of their data, while others temporarily closed during the incident.

However, the FBI has apparently been tight-lipped about the matter with Congress.

At the Nov. 16 House Oversight and Reform Committee meeting on ransomware, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the panel’s ranking Republican, criticized the bureau for its lack of transparency about the issue.

“In September, the chairwoman and I asked [FBI] Director [Christopher] Wray for a briefing on the FBI’s decisions. We never received that briefing,” Comer said, directing his ire toward Bryan Vorndran, the assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division...

(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antifabi; effestapo; fbi; fedmob; festapo

1 posted on 11/16/2021 5:11:32 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

bookmark


2 posted on 11/16/2021 5:13:40 PM PST by GOP Poet (Super cool you can change your tag line EVERYTIME you post!! :D. (Small things make me happy))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Is ransomware an FBI operation to make money on the side?


3 posted on 11/16/2021 5:37:57 PM PST by Dutch Boy (The only thing worse than having something taken from you is to have it returned broken. )
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To: All

So, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys OR are they all bad guys?


4 posted on 11/16/2021 5:44:19 PM PST by BipolarBob (I thought growing old would take longer.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Must be nice, not being Steve Bannon when Congress “demands answers”.


5 posted on 11/16/2021 5:45:41 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!)
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To: Dutch Boy

That is probably closer to the truth than any other theory.


6 posted on 11/16/2021 5:46:18 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

The FBI shuts-up when they fd-up. That appears to be the case here. And once sgain.


7 posted on 11/16/2021 5:51:46 PM PST by Bookshelf
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

In September, it was revealed that the FBI had obtained a decryption key in July that would have allowed the hundreds of victim entities to retrieve their data, but agents withheld the key because they didn’t want to tip off REvil about a major law enforcement operation they were planning.

The FBI never had a chance to execute its planned operation against REvil, as the group went offline in late July.

The only way the FBI could have the decryption key is they ran REvil or had agents in REvil. As they didn’t catch them, then the FBI is REvil.


8 posted on 11/16/2021 6:10:27 PM PST by Flick Lives (The future is a quiet world)
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To: Openurmind

Or some of their people are insde undercover, or they may have informants inside the group

But i wouldnt it put it past them to make money of of it

Fbi is the most corrupt leo group around next to doj and batfe


9 posted on 11/16/2021 6:11:43 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Other than the CIA...


10 posted on 11/16/2021 6:14:19 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Cia has drugs

They’ve already got that covered


11 posted on 11/16/2021 6:16:04 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Contempt of Congress!


12 posted on 11/16/2021 6:19:20 PM PST by ArcadeQuarters (Remember the 2020 backstabbers. No more RINOs ever!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Once a Government turns, normal people have no idea just how evil it
becomes. (Exponentially Evil, in surprisingly short order.)


13 posted on 11/16/2021 11:15:52 PM PST by EasySt (Say not this is the truth, but so it seems to me to be, as I see this thing I think I see #KAG.)
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To: Dutch Boy
Is ransomware an FBI operation to make money on the side?

Probably a CIA operation working in conjunction with the FBI while they look the other way and cover for the CIA.

14 posted on 11/16/2021 11:47:39 PM PST by VideoDoctor
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