Maksim Yakubets, of Moscow, Russia, has been indicted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for his alleged role as the leader of a cybercriminal gang responsible for the distribution of a multifunction malware package known as “Bugat.”
Bugat was designed to automate the theft of confidential personal and financial information, such as online banking credentials, from infected computers.
Later versions of the malware, also known as “Dridex,” were designed with the added function of assisting in the installation of ransomware.
Over the past decade, the Bugat malware facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from victims, some of which occurred as recently as May of this year.
A second co-conspirator, Igor Turashev, also was indicted in Pittsburgh in connection with the Bugat scheme.
Yakubets also has been charged in a criminal complaint in Lincoln, Nebraska, for his participation in a scheme to disseminate “Zeus,” a similar form of malware that was likewise used to empty out the financial accounts of its victims.
According to the complaint, the deployment of the Zeus malware resulted in a total attempted theft of around $220 million, with actual losses of an estimated $70 million from victims’ bank accounts.
Interesting timing. These alleged crimes have supposedly been going on for ten years, but this announcement is made right in the middle of all the Russia/Ukraine brouhaha, and as the Dems are reviving the Russia-collusion theme as part of their impeachment inquiry.
It’s not in the article and is a little concerning: what has been done to prevent these criminals from leaving the country? IMHO, taking their passports at a minimum.