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posted by martyb on Wednesday December 11 2019, @08:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the evil-does-what-evil-is dept.

Evil Corp Hackers Charged for Stealing Over $100 Million

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) charged Russian citizens Maksim V. Yakubets and Igor Turashev for deploying the Dridex malware (aka Bugat and Cridex), and for their involvement in international bank fraud and computer hacking schemes.

The two were charged with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, and bank fraud in a 10-count indictment unsealed today, concerning the distribution of the malware they used to automate the theft of sensitive financial and personal information like banking credentials, as well as for infecting their victims with ransomware in more recent attacks.

"The State Department, in partnership with the FBI, announced today a reward of up to $5 million under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Yakubets," the DoJ says.

[...] Yakubets was the leader of Evil Corp since at least 2017, a Russia-based cybercriminal group of hackers that developed and disseminated the Dridex malware via large scale phishing email campaigns.

[...] "This is a landmark for the NCA, FBI and U.S. authorities and a day of reckoning for those who commit cybercrime," NCA Director Jones added.

"Following years of online pursuit, I am pleased to see the real-world identity of Yakubets and his associate Turashev revealed. Yakubets and his associates have allegedly been responsible for losses and attempted losses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars."


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:02PM (3 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:02PM (#931250) Journal

    Evil Corp is quite the name to give one's organization. You'd think, that the Russian government would have some misgivings about working with a group named that. At what point, is government sanctioned hits on international banks, a cause for war? Sure, you may not be lobbing missiles at your neighbor, but sanctioned groups raiding banks can't be good for international relations.

    Then again, perhaps, I'm conflating the two things. With the Russians using their expertise for things other than bank heists.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:46PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:46PM (#931267)

      You ask a very good question, but I'm not sure how you sell "War to save our Banks" to the general populace.

      Then again, the Pentagon has managed to keep troops in Afghanistan for 18 years, and Iraq since 2003, so I'm sure they'd find a way.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:32AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:32AM (#931293)

      Evil Corp- Aka E Corp was the bad guy in Mr. Robot
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Robot [wikipedia.org]
      A series with an accurate portrayal of hackers, going as far as using actual code exploits in the show. You see at least one python script run each episode.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @05:41AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @05:41AM (#931327)

        Everyone knows that python is evil.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:17AM (1 child)

    by legont (4179) on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:17AM (#931287)

    A guy steals money abroad and provides favors to his government to cover his ass. Tell me this is exceptional.
    What is exceptional is the size of the reward. One has to kill 500 cops to get this level of attention.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Thursday December 12 2019, @05:49AM

      by captain normal (2205) on Thursday December 12 2019, @05:49AM (#931328)

      "What is exceptional is the size of the reward."
      Le's see they stole over $100 mil, reward is $5 mil. Why does that remind me of the Dr. Evil character in the Austin Powers film holding his pinky up to his lips and saying "One mellion dollar".

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @01:42PM (#931382)

    More likely, the FBI's version of an H1B visa.

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