US Offers $10 Million Reward for Tips About State-Linked RedLine Cybercriminals

How would you like to earn yourself millions of dollars?

Well, it may just be possible – if you have information which could help expose the identities of cybercriminals involved with the notorious RedLine information-stealing malware.

The US Department of State is offering up to US$10 million for information about the government-backed hackers believed to be behind RedLine malware attacks, which have included US critical infrastructure among their targets.

RedLine, which is one of the world’s most prolific information stealers in recent years, exfiltrates a wide variety of information including account details and passwords saved in browsers, cookies, and credit card details, as well as information about the computers it has infected.

The hacking tool had been marketed and sold to cybercriminals as a subscription, having first made available for sale as malware-as-a-service on the dark web in March 2020.

The United States is particularly interested in gathering information about associates of Russian national Maxim Alexandrovich Rudometov, who they suspect to be the developer and administrator of the RedLine malware operation.

In October 2024, the United States unsealed charges against Rudometov, as part of “Operation Magnus” – an international effort by law enforcement to disrupt the RedLine and META infostealers network.

Although RedLine is commonly seen in low-level cybercrime operations, the suspicion of US officials is that some attacks may have been co-ordinated at the behest of, or in coordination with, foreign intelligence services.

Of course, a $10 million reward might be enough to help some online crooks reconsider their allegiances and share information with computer crime-fighting authorities.

With that in mind, the US government has created a method for those with information about malicious activity to reach out anonymously and share information securely about hackers working at the direction of a foreign government.

To leave a tip, you can just point your Tor browser at: 

http://he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65flqy6irivtflruqfc5ep7eiodiad.onion/

Tips can also be submitted to the US authorities via the Signal encrypted messaging app.

Those less concerned about their anonymity can learn more on the Rewards for Justice website (which can be accessed via a regular web browser).

Rewards for Justice says that it reads every tip it receives, and that messages can be sent in multiple languages.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this guest author article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Fortra.