How CrowdStrike Tracked INDRIK SPIDER from Origin to Takedown

On Oct. 1, 2024, an international law enforcement coalition announced the disruption of a senior member of INDRIK SPIDER, who was also an affiliate of the BITWISE SPIDER ransomware as a service operation. CrowdStrike often works with law enforcement to identify, track and stop cyber threats, and we played a key role in this operation.

In this episode, Adam and Cristian are joined by a member of CrowdStrike’s intelligence collection team to dive into the takedown, the years of cybercrime evolution that led to it and how CrowdStrike collects the intel that informs organizations and aids law enforcement activity. Their conversation takes us back to the early days of INDRIK SPIDER and traces the emergence and transformation of enterprise malware as it relates to this prolific threat actor. The story underscores how adversaries operate like businesses — and why they’re so hard to bring down.

Tune in to learn the background and significance of INDRIK SPIDER and its takedown, its connections to Russian intelligence, the techniques used to investigate and attribute adversaries, what this means for the future of law enforcement against cybercrime and where cheese-covered sushi fits into the picture.