Russian ransomware criminals have unwittingly exposed the effectiveness of global sanctions, after trying to hack the very researchers who unmasked them.
Earlier this month, research by cyber investigators at Virginia-based Mandiant traced exactly how Evil Corp - a Russian-based group of “cyber-enabled bank robbers” - tried to hide behind a web of anonymity to evade sanctions and continue to steal from Britain and the US. The group then turned on Mandiant in an attempted data theft.
In a unique twist, their failed efforts highlighted that targeted sanctions might be the elusive key the Western world needs to defeat ransomware gangs.
Described by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) as causing losses of “hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK alone”, the cybercrime gang’s members have made vast sums by allegedly using malicious software called ransomware to scramble critical computer files belonging to Western banks and financial institutions. They then extort the victims, demanding millions in hard-to-trace cryptocurrency payments in return for unscrambling the files.
This form of online criminality has real-world consequences. Abingdon-based cybersecurity company Sophos says ransomware payments demanded by such gangs average nearly £650,000 apiece, with criminals normally tailoring their demands to the size of the victim. Ransoms in the millions or even tens of millions are not unheard of.
Maksim Yakubets, Evil Corp’s 34-year-old alleged ringleader, even has a $5m (£4m) bounty on his head offered by the US government. Nine accused Evil Corp members, including Yakubets and key lieutenant Igor Turashev, 41, were sanctioned by the US in 2019 and charged with criminal offences carrying decades in prison.
The NCA said the alleged criminal mastermind would be “arrested and extradited” if he “ever leaves the safety of Ru ..
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