Three Russian nationals and two St. Petersburg companies have been indicted for allegedly selling criminal hackers infrastructure that powered ransomware, malware, phishing, and brute-force attacks against American banks, hospitals, schools, government agencies, and media companies.

Local Angle

The alleged network caused more than $62 million in losses among 44 victims in 21 states, including two unnamed commercial victims in Waco and Austin, Texas.

The defendants, Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43; Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34; and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29, are accused of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The companies, Media Land, LLC, and ML.Cloud, LLC, allegedly provided hackers with servers, false domain registrations, and fast-flux services that rapidly moved domains among internet addresses to conceal malicious activity.

International Cooperation

The indictment is the result of a seven-year investigation led by the FBI Cleveland Division, with assistance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and law enforcement partners in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Australia.

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $10 million and possible relocation for actionable information about foreign government-linked associates of the defendants, their alleged malicious cyber activity, or foreign government-linked use of Media Land or ML.Cloud.

Original reporting: The Dallas Express — read the source article.