How the growing Russian ransomware threat is costing companies dear

A ransomware attack on KP Snacks has prompted a possible shortage of the UK’s favourite snacks after crippling the company’s IT systems. Photograph: Andre M Chang/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The January snow lay thick on the Moscow ground, as masked officers of the FSB – Russia’s fearsome security agency – prepared to smash down the doors at one of 25 addresses they would raid that day.

Their target was REvil, a shadowy conclave of hackers that claimed to have stolen more than $100m (£74m) a year through “ransomware” attacks, before suddenly disappearing.