US Ransomware Conspiracy Indictment

A Russian man has been charged with conspiracy after allegedly offering an employee $1m to infect their company's computer network with ransomware. Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov was arrested in Los Angeles last month and now faces charges of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer. The 27-year-old Russian was in the United States on a tourist visa.

Kriuchkov has been accused of working with co-conspirators to recruit an employee of a company in Nevada. He faces charges of  intending to pay the  employee a bribe of $1m to successfully introduce the malware into the company's network.

The employee was allegedly told that Kriuchkov's co-conspirators would launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to divert attention from the malware. A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice said: "After the malware was introduced, Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators would extract data from the network and then threaten to make the information public, unless the company paid their ransom demand."

Kriuchkov contacted the employee via WhatsApp on or about July 16. After arriving in the United States on or about July 28, Kriuchkov allegedly met with the employee numerous times to discuss the conspiracy. He allegedly provided the employee with a burner phone and instructed him to leave the device in airplane mode until after the money had been transferred.

The employee was then allegedly advised to download Tor Browser and set up a Bitcoin wallet to receive the payment.

After being contacted by the FBI regarding the alleged conspiracy, Kriuchkov attempted to flee the country. He drove overnight from Reno, Nevada, to Los Angeles and asked an acquaintance to buy him an airline ticket out of the United States.

Dept of Justice:       Sophos:      ProSysCom:      Infosecurity Magazine:      Dark Readng:

You Might Also Read:

Chinese Hackers Go After Gambling Websites:

 

« Artificial Intelligence Improves Business Processes
Superhuman Brain-Hacking Device »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

Hack Miami

Hack Miami

HackMiami is the premier resource in South Florida for highly skilled hackers that specialize in vulnerability analysis, penetration testing, digital forensics, and all manner of IT security.

Armadillo Sec

Armadillo Sec

Armadillo provide penetration testing and vulnerability assessment services.

Cyber Triage

Cyber Triage

Cyber Triage is an automated incident response software any company can use to investigate their network alerts.

Arsenal Recon

Arsenal Recon

Arsenal Recon are digital forensics experts, providing consultancy services and powerful software tools to improve the analysis of electronic evidence.

Simply Hired

Simply Hired

Simply Hired is a job search engine that collects job listings from all over the web, including company career pages, job boards and niche job websites.

LogicHub

LogicHub

LogicHub is built on the principle that every decision process for threat detection and response can and should be automated.

Cyturus Technologies

Cyturus Technologies

Cyturus Technologies delivers cybersecurity business risk quantification services using our proprietary Adaptive Risk Model (ARM).

R3I Ventures - House of DeepTech

R3I Ventures - House of DeepTech

The House of DeepTech is an incubator for deeptech entrepreneurs that are transforming global industries. Areas of interest include cybersecurity.

Finnish Security & Intelligence Service (SUPO)

Finnish Security & Intelligence Service (SUPO)

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service is a government agency tasked with combating serious threats to national security in Finland.

HLB Mann Judd (Fiji)

HLB Mann Judd (Fiji)

HLB Mann Judd (Fiji) (formerly known as HLB Crosbie & Associates) is a well-established firm of accountants and business advisers in Fiji.

Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

CSIRO is Australia's national science agency. We solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

SilverEdge Government Solutions

SilverEdge Government Solutions

SilverEdge is a next generation provider of innovative and proprietary cybersecurity, software, and intelligence solutions for the Defense and Intelligence Communities.

Kaesim Cybersecurity

Kaesim Cybersecurity

Kaesim are a global team of cybersecurity experts protecting businesses since 2015. We stop bad people damaging your business, your data and your reputation.

Saidot

Saidot

Saidot is a Finnish AI governance and alignment company committed to helping businesses safely and transparently integrate AI into their operations.

Bedrock Security

Bedrock Security

Bedrock Security is at the forefront of revolutionizing data security in the cloud and GenAI era.

Faddom

Faddom

Faddom is an agentless tool that visualizes your on-premises and cloud infrastructure, as well as their inter-dependencies.