Aleksandr Sikerin, whose last known address was in St.Petersburg,
Russia, which has links to a notorious ransomware gang called REvil that has cost US businesses millions of dollars, the Justice Department alleges in a complaint filed with the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division.
The lawsuit states: Cryptocurrency accounts, or “wallets”, now under the control of the FBI, “could track ransomware attacks carried out by Sikerin”.
The arrest is part of an ongoing US law enforcement effort to stem the funding of Russian and Eastern European cybercriminals following a series of ransomware attacks that damaged infrastructure. floor of the United States. It comes as the White House continues to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action against hackers operating on Russian soil.
Bleeping Computer, a cybersecurity news site,
first report news.
Ministry of Justice this month
Notice of arrest more than $6 million in ransom was allegedly made to another alleged REvil actor, Yevgeniy Polyanin, of Russian nationality. Polyanin is alleged to have conducted about 3,000 ransomware attacks, including several on law enforcement agencies and municipalities across Texas.
But the seizures are only a fraction of what REvil members have pocketed from their computer hacks. Between April 2019 and July 2021, victims in the US and elsewhere paid extortionists more than $200 million following attacks carried out with the REvil ransomware, according to the new complaint.
Law enforcement’s attack against REvil and other ransomware gangs is largely based on private companies. Cybersecurity firm McAfee over two years ago identified several crypto accounts used by various people linked to REvil and documented how the hackers split their ill-gotten gains.
Despite the crackdown, some of the alleged ransomware operators appear to be living comfortably in Russia, which has no extradition agreement with the US. NS
FBI wanted poster because Polyanin says he is “supposedly in Russia” and “probably” in the Siberian city of Barnaul.
While the FBI and Secret Service tracked down alleged cybercrime, the Treasury Department targeted the services hackers used to launder ransoms. September Faculty
Suex gets punished, a cryptocurrency exchange that US officials allege does business with the hackers behind eight types of ransomware.
