A US$10 million reward is being offered by the State Department for information that helps arrest and convict a Russian hacker who carried out ransomware attacks on US law enforcement agencies and health care providers.

The hacker, Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, used ransomware variants such as LockBit, Babuk, and Hive to encrypt or steal data from vulnerable computer systems and demand payment for decrypting or not releasing it.

His victims included hospitals, schools, nonprofits, and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC.

He has been hiding behind aliases like “Wazawaka”, “m1x”, and “Boriselcin” since early 2020.

The Justice Department said that he and his associates made ransom demands of up to US$400 million and received up to US$200 million from their victims.

LockBit ransomware has been involved in more than 1,400 attacks around the world.

Matveev is charged with conspiracy and intentional damage to protected computers and could face more than 20 years in prison if convicted.