CRIME
Ukrainian Sentenced To Prison In Texas For Ransomware Attacks Demanding Over $700 Million
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A Ukrainian national was sentenced in Texas on Wednesday to nearly 14 years in prison for conducting thousands of ransomware attacks demanding more than $700 million in ransom, officials said.
Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a.k.a. Rabotnik, 24, was sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison and ordered to pay more than $16 million in restitution after pleading guilty to an 11-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“As this sentencing shows, the Justice Department is working with our international partners and using all tools at our disposal to identify cybercriminals, capture their illicit profits, and hold them accountable for their crimes,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
Vasinskyi conducted more than 2,500 ransomware attacks using the ransomware variant known as Sodinokibi/REvil. Ransomware encrypts the data on targeted computers, allowing operators to demand a ransom in exchange for a decryption key.
Vasinskyi and Sodinokibi/REvil co-conspirators demanded ransoms in the form of cryptocurrency, and used cryptocurrency exchangers and other services to hide the proceeds of their crimes. If victims refused to pay the ransom, the co-conspirators exposed their data.
Vasinskyi was extradited to the U.S. from Poland.
“Deploying the REvil ransomware variant, the defendant reached out across the globe to demand hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. victims. But this case shows the Justice Departments reach is also global — working with our international partners, we are bringing to justice those who target U.S. victims, and we are disrupting the broader cybercrime ecosystem, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
“Using ransomware, malicious actors from around the globe can paralyze U.S. companies in a matter of minutes,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton for the Northern District of Texas. “But as cybercriminals work together to deploy these attacks, law enforcement throughout the United States stands ready to dismantle their criminal enterprises. The dedicated prosecutors from the Northern District of Texas and the skilled agents at the FBI Dallas Field Office proved once again today to ransomware actors everywhere: When you hit targets in the United States, the Justice Department and its partners will come after you.”
TMX contributed to this article.
