For the first time in the history of law, 7 cyber criminals, apparently linked to Russian Intelligence, were slapped with sanctions. Additionally, the real world names, email address, photos and DoBs were also released to the press, to tarnish their image on an international note, thus making them eligible to be slapped with travel bans on all developed nations.
The names of the 7 gang members are Dmitry Pleshevskiy, Ivan Vakhromeyev, Valery Sedletski, Micheal Iskritskiy, Valentin Karyagin, Maksim Mikhailov, and Vitaly Kovalev. The idenitified members are linked to Trickbot malware spreading gang and Conti Ransomware groups, both being funded by Kremlin.
UK’s National Cyber Security Centre(NCSC) along with the US Treasury Department, has issued a warning that any country national, group and business supporting the identified men will be eligible for serious prosecution and harsh consequences, if/when founded guilty.
Cybersecurity Insiders has evidenced that the banned members were caught with evidence of spreading malware, ransomware development, laundering of finances, infiltrating corporate networks with malicious codes and then stealing intelligence.
US District Court of New Jersey also pronounced that Vitaliy Kovalev was also indicted for committing wire frauds and siphoning currency and data from 4 US financial institutions between 2009 and 2010.
So, all you criminals out there in the cyberspace, you better mend your ways or be prepared to face harsh consequences from the law enforcement around the world. As coming days are going to prove tough, to conduct crime and make monetary benefits.
NOTE- Google owned Mandiant security firm was the first to track down the criminals with their activities and based on its tip-off, the governments led by Rishi Sunak and Biden issued sanctions on the 7 member ransomware spreading criminals, linked to Putin led nation.
