The U.S. Justice Division charged Moldovan nationwide Alexander Lefterov, the proprietor and operator of a large-scale botnet that contaminated hundreds of computer systems throughout america.
Also called Alipako, Uptime, and Alipatime, the 37-year-old man from Chisinau was indicted in December 2021 for aggravated id theft, pc fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The nine-count indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, reveals that Lefterov and his henchmen used malware to steal credentials from the contaminated units.
With the assistance of the harvested login data, additionally they stole the victims’ cash by accessing their accounts on monetary, fee processing, and retail platforms.
Contaminated computer systems is also accessed immediately utilizing a hidden digital community computing (hVNC) server with out the homeowners’ data.
Direct entry through the hVNC server allowed Lefterov and the conspirators to connect with their victims’ on-line accounts utilizing net browsers on the contaminated units, which the accessed on-line platforms would acknowledge as a trusted connection.
Botnet supplied ransomware gangs entry to victims’ networks
The conspirators additionally supplied different cybercriminals entry to the botnet through the identical hVNC server, permitting them to breach and deploy malware on victims’ networks.
“To further monetize the scheme, Lefterov allegedly leased the botnet to other co-conspirators by providing them access to infected computers as well as to the victims’ stolen credentials,” in response to the Justice Division.
“Lefterov and his co-conspirators also provided access to the botnet for the purpose of distributing malware, including ransomware, to infected computers within the botnet.”
Lefterov allegedly obtained a proportion of the income from the unnamed botnet he owned and operated.
The penalties for pc fraud, unauthorized entry to a protected pc, wire fraud, intentional injury to a protected pc, and aggravated id theft fees range from 2 to 10 years in jail, relying on the offense.
Nonetheless, the ultimate sentence will rely on the severity of the crimes and the defendant’s legal historical past, if any.
“Protecting Americans in cyber space is a top priority, and we will aggressively pursue anyone, no matter if they’re on U.S. soil or overseas, who believes our population is an easy target,” mentioned FBI Particular Agent Kevin Rojek.
“The FBI and our partners will continue investigating the sources behind malware intrusions and the hijacking of machines for malicious attacks against Americans online.”
