A Russian nationwide was indicted for main a cybercriminal enterprise that contaminated computer systems and stole thousands and thousands from victims across the globe for greater than a decade, federal prosecutors revealed.
Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov, 48, of Moscow, was slapped with conspiracy and wire fraud prices on Thursday for allegedly main a bunch of hackers who developed and unleashed malicious software program, referred to as Qakbot, in focused ransomware assaults beginning in 2008, in response to the Division of Justice.
Prosecutors are trying to retrieve $24 million the alleged cybercriminal swiped from his victims.
“Today’s announcement of the Justice Department’s latest actions to counter the Qakbot malware scheme sends a clear message to the cybercrime community,” Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s Felony Division, mentioned in an announcement.
“We are determined to hold cybercriminals accountable and will use every legal tool at our disposal to identify you, charge you, forfeit your ill-gotten gains, and disrupt your criminal activity.”
Prosecutors mentioned Gallyamov used Qakbot to contaminate 1000’s of computer systems to determine a botnet — a community of compromised methods he and his co-horsts managed and used to hold out the cyberattacks.
Gallyamov, who obtained a lower of the ransom funds, ultimately reframed his assaults to trick victims into granting entry to their computer systems shortly after the FBI and different European regulation enforcement companies dismantled his huge trove of contaminated methods in 2023.
Prosecutors mentioned he final attacked the US in January.
“Mr. Gallyamov’s bot network was crippled by the talented men and women of the FBI and our international partners in 2023, but he brazenly continued to deploy alternative methods to make his malware available to criminal cyber gangs conducting ransomware attacks against innocent victims globally,” mentioned Akil Davis, the FBI’s Assistant Director in Cost in Los Angeles.
“The charges announced today exemplify the FBI’s commitment to relentlessly hold accountable individuals who target Americans and demand ransom, even when they live halfway across the world.”
It was not instantly clear if Gallyamov was arrested or his whereabouts.
Regulation enforcement companies within the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, and Canada have been concerned within the coordinated takedown.
