Anastasia Sentsova and Jon DiMaggio have written about the latest drama in the ransomware world: LockBitSupp was banned from XSS.is, and as is their policy, he was therefore also banned on Exploit.in. Banned in the two well-known Russian-language forums, LockBitSupp tried to appeal the decision to RAMP. Even though it seems RAMP agreed with him, XSS.is and Exploit.in did not reverse their bans.
LockBitSupp’s ban comes as a surprise as he is a well-known figure and was active on the forums. Being on RAMP won’t give him as much publicity as being on the other forums that are available on clearnet.
But worse for him, LockBitSupp has now been branded “RIPPER,” which is an absolute smack on his character and reputation.
From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed ridiculous that LockBitSupp would not agree to pay the other party (the complainant, Michon) for providing him access to a victim that LockBitSupp was able to successfully extort. Even if they had no firm agreement on price beforehand, LockBitSupp should have agreed to pay him something reasonable. The moderator of XSS.is even offered him the opportunity to resolve the complaint by paying the complainant 10% of what he made in the ransom, but LockBitSupp refused to pay even that, giving reasons which did not seem persuasive to most people who commented on the dispute.
You can read the details of the complaint and aftermath on Analyst1.