Washington: The US Justice Department has charged a suspect from Ukraine and a Russian national over a July ransomware attack on an American company, according to indictments made in court filings on Tuesday AEDT, and has seized $6 million in ransom payments.
Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukrainian national arrested in Poland last month, will face US charges for deploying ransomware known as REvil, which has been used in hacks that have cost US firms millions of dollars, the court filing showed.
Russian Yevgeniy Polyanin, wanted by the FBI, is displayed on monitors as Attorney General Merrick Garland accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray speak in Washington. Credit:AP
Vasinskyi conducted a ransomware attack over the July 4 weekend on Florida-based software firm Kaseya that infected up to 1500 businesses around the world, according to the charges filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The REvil ransomware gang was also behind the ransomware attacks on meat processor JBS in Australia in May.
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Vasinskyi and another alleged REvil operative, Russian national Yevgeniy Polyanin, were charged by the United States with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, among other charges.
The Treasury Department also said the two operatives face sanctions for their role in ransomware incidents in the United States, as well as a virtual currency exchange called Chatex “for facilitating financial transactions for ransomware actors”.
Vasinskyi was responsible for the July 2021 ransomware activity against Kaseya, “which caused significant disruptions to the computer networks of Kaseya’s custom ..
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