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The Justice Department on Monday announced charges against two foreign nationals, a Russian and a Ukrainian, accused of stealing millions by orchestrating ransomware attacks in the United States and around the world.
At a news conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the ministry charged Ukrainian 22-year-old Yaroslav Vasinsky with a $2.3 million ransom payment last month for alleged involvement in 2,500 ransomware attacks.
Vasinsky is linked to the Russian-backed cyber gang REvil Group, which began infecting computers with REvil ransomware, also known as Sodinokibi, in 2019, according to the grand jury indictment.
Mr. Garland is indicted in connection with a cyberattack on Miami-based software company Kaseya on July 2. its customers.
Mr. Vasinsky was charged six weeks after the July attack, and Mr. Garland said, “It shows how quickly we will act together with our international partners to identify, locate and capture alleged cybercriminals, wherever they may be.”
He was arrested by Polish authorities last month while trying to cross the border from Ukraine to Poland. Justice Department requests extradition to USA
The Justice Department also dropped charges against Russian 28-year-old Yevgeniy Polyanin, who was accused of blackmailing more than $13 million through more than 3,000 REvil-linked cyberattacks against US companies, law enforcement and municipal government agencies.
Mr Garland said the department had seized $6.1 million due to the attacks.
Both Mr. Vasinsky and Mr. Polyanin are charged with willfully damaging and blackmailing protected computers, deliberately damaging protected computers and conspiring to launder money. If found guilty of all charges, they are each sentenced to 115 and 145 years in prison, respectively.
He added that he urged Congress to establish a national standard for reporting “significant” cyberattacks, which would require sharing reported attacks with the Department of Justice.
The charges are part of a global law enforcement effort against cyberattacks dubbed Operation GoldDust.
European authorities announced on Monday that the operation, which spanned 17 countries, had resulted in the arrest of seven hacking suspects since February.
According to Europol, Romanian authorities arrested two people last week allegedly responsible for distributing REvil ransomware and receiving more than $577,000 in ransom payments.
Three other suspected REvil members and two suspected members of the Russian-linked cyber gang GandCrab have been arrested since February.
“All these arrests follow joint international law enforcement efforts to identify, tap and seize part of the infrastructure used by the Sodinokibi/REvil family of ransomware, seen as the successor to GandCrab,” Europol said.
Members of ransomware gangs have overlapping and varying allegiances, and REvil’s operation often hides exactly who is responsible for certain cyberattacks. REvil used a ransomware-as-a-service model, which involved malware developers and the affiliates that distributed it, sharing profits made through forced ransom payments from victims who wanted to regain access to their systems and data.
Operation GoldDust includes officials from Europol, Eurojust, Interpol and countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Kuwait, United Kingdom and United Kingdom. United States of America.
• Ryan Lovelace contributed to this report.
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