The United States will bring charges against the citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the case of the hacker group REvil

The US authorities plan to bring charges against Ukrainian citizen Yaroslav Vasinsky and Russian citizen Yevgeny Polyanin. According to American investigators, they were part of the REvil hacker group and involved in cybercrimes. As part of the investigation, law enforcement agencies seized $ 6 million sent to Polyanin as a ransom, transfers CNN. Investigation message also published US Department of Justice.

Vasinsky and Polyanin are accused of extortion, fraud and money laundering. Vasinsky, 22, was arrested in October 2021 in Poland. He faces extradition to the United States. Polyanin, 28, remains at large. According to the FBI, he is in Barnaul.

Vasinsky and Polyanina included in the list of persons against whom the sanctions were imposed.

Vasinsky, according to investigators, was spreading the REvil virus. Using this program, hackers encrypted data on an infected computer, and then extorted money for help in decryption. The damage done by REvil to American companies exceeds $ 200 million, transfers RIA Novosti.

On July 4, US Independence Day, Vasinsky launched a cyberattack on Florida-based software company Kaseya. Thanks to this, the hackers were able to infect the computers of more than 1,500 companies around the world that were Kaseya’s customers with a virus.

The REvil hackers were particularly audacious. The group reportedly demanded $ 50 million from Apple earlier this year after hacking into the computer systems of one of the tech giant’s suppliers. The FBI also suspected REvil members of the May attack on JBS, which accounts for a fifth of the US beef market. Due to the cyberattack, JBS was forced to temporarily halt production at factories in Australia, Canada and the United States. The company paid the hackers $ 11 million to unlock its computer systems.

After the July cyberattack, REvil’s websites stopped functioning. The media noted that this happened shortly after the telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was reported on July 9. According to the New York Times, Biden has demanded that Putin take action against the ransomware used in cyber attacks on US infrastructure.

In September, REvil’s sites went live again. However, in October, according to the Washington Post, the US Cyber ​​Command was able to hack into REvil’s computer infrastructure and disable it.

In early November, Romanian authorities arrested two alleged members of the REvil group, Europol said.

Victims of cyberattacks using ransomware paid about $ 350 million in ransom payments in 2020, according to Chainalysis. But the real earnings of hackers using these viruses could be even higher.

In early November, the US Department of State appointed a $ 10 million reward for sensitive information about Russian hackers using the DarkSide program. In May, due to the harm she caused, she was terminated Colonial Pipeline, a major US fuel supplier.