The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have jointly sanctioned a group of cybercrime groups and infrastructure providers, causing global losses exceeding $1 billion. Among them, the European Union has sanctioned Russian cybercriminal Vitaly Nikolayevich Kovalev (pseudonym Stern). According to Chainalysis data, wallet addresses related to Stern have received over $300 million in ransom. Stern has had transactional connections with ransomware ecosystems such as Ryuk, Conti, Diavol, Karakurt, Royal, Quantum, and is responsible for budget management, personnel recruitment, and attack planning within Trickbot Group.
