A Russian national was indicted for leading a cybercriminal enterprise that infected computers and stole millions from victims around the globe for more than a decade, federal prosecutors revealed.
Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov, 48, of Moscow, was slapped with conspiracy and wire fraud charges on Thursday for allegedly leading a group of hackers who developed and unleashed malicious software, called Qakbot, in targeted ransomware attacks starting in 2008, according to the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors are attempting 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 Criminal Division, said in a statement.
“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 said Gallyamov used Qakbot to infect thousands of computers to establish a botnet — a network of compromised systems he and his co-horsts controlled and used to carry out the cyberattacks.
Gallyamov, who received a cut of the ransom payments, eventually reframed his attacks to trick victims into granting access to their computers shortly after the FBI and other European law enforcement agencies dismantled his massive trove of infected systems in 2023.
Prosecutors said he last 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,” said Akil Davis, the FBI’s Assistant Director in Charge 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 immediately clear if Gallyamov was arrested or his whereabouts.
Law enforcement agencies in the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Canada were involved in the coordinated takedown.
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