A senior British crimefighter has been awarded one of the country's highest tributes for public service for his role in the 2024 LockBit ransomware takedown.

The National Crime Agency's (NCA) Gavin Webb was among the names on the King's most recent New Year Honours list for 2026. Webb was given an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award.

OBEs are given to individuals with distinguished regional or countrywide achievements in any field. The rank is only two rungs down from a knighthood or damehood.

The NCA told The Register that Webb, 51, held a strategic coordinating role in Operation Cronos, described as the UK lead on the NCA-spearheaded international law enforcement operation responsible for disrupting LockBit.

Webb is a police officer by trade, not a techie, and did not have a hands-on-keyboard impact as Cronos infiltrated LockBit's website, turning Dmitry Khoroshev's infrastructure against him, although he pulled the strings behind the scenes.

Asked why Webb's role in Cronos was so impactful and worthy of such a high award, an NCA official said that disrupting LockBit was a "tremendously complex operation" and that Webb took on a leadership role that was instrumental in its success.

A coordinating role in an operation like Cronos typically involves working with all the international policing forces involved – and various domestic ones – ensuring that everyone is well informed on plans, progress, and their responsibilities.

Webb was also responsible for ensuring every participating force carried out their duties in the correct order, orchestrating the disruption.

LockBit cemented itself as the dominant ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platform between 2023 and 2024. The NCA said it was responsible for a quarter of all ransomware attacks during that time and billions of dollars worth of damage to thousands of victims.

Webb is the NCA's regional head of multi-threat and border investigations. He does not deal with cybercrime too often, with his time largely occupied by cases involving firearms, drugs, and organized immigration crime.

Seven other NCA officers were also added to the New Year Honours list, including Kay Taylor, the director of legal services, and Fiona Nicolson, former team manager at the National Economic Crime Centre.

Taylor, 50, was commended for her role in securing "countless convictions" of serious and organized criminals, having previously supported the EncroChat bust of 2020, which continues to bear fruit today, and Operation Stovewood, the infamous and ongoing investigation into Rotherham child sex abuse.

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Nicolson, 61, was described as "a trailblazer in driving improvements across law enforcement," one who developed innovative processes for identifying high-harm financial criminals. Her work has helped the NCA seize assets worth hundreds of millions, and return that money to victims.

Taylor receives a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) award – one rung below a damehood – while Nicolson receives Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Five other NCA officers received MBEs, but their identities were not revealed due to the nature of their work.

NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said: "These honours are well deserved by the officers, who have truly gone above and beyond to support victims and protect the public from the most serious and harmful crime.

"These officers represent the very best qualities of all officers working so hard across the National Crime Agency, and I am immensely proud of all that they have achieved."

Elsewhere in cyber, Samantha De Souza, programme director of economic and cybercrime at the Home Office, received an OBE for outstanding public service.

The two co-founders of training provider Capslock, Lorna Armitage and Andrea Cullen, also received MBEs for exceptional services to cybersecurity.

"This honour is about more than us – it's about showing that cybersecurity is for everyone," Cullen said. "We need diverse perspectives to tackle complex challenges, and we're proud to have played a part in making the industry more inclusive." ®