A Ukrainian national was sentenced today to 13 years and seven months in prison and ordered to pay over $16 million in restitution for his role in conducting over 2,500 ransomware attacks and demanding over $700 million in ransom payments.
REvil ransomware was used by the culprit and his associates to reach out across the globe and demanded hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S victims.
His name is Yaroslav Vasinskyi, also known as Rabotnik, 24, executed thousands of ransomware attacks using the ransomware variant known as Sodinokibi/REvil. Ransomware is malicious software designed to encrypt data on victim computers, allowing hackers the ability to demand a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key. The co-conspirators demanded ransom payments in cryptocurrency and used cryptocurrency exchangers and mixing services to hide their winnings. To further disturb the victims they threatened the ransom demands higher, Sodinokibi/REvil co-conspirators also publicly exposed their victims’ data when victims would not pay ransom demands.
This was not his first time being involved in a scandal. Vasinskyi previously pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to an 11-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was previously extradited to the United States from Poland.
Vasinskyi’s affiliate group was involved in 2023, when the DOJ obtained the final forfeiture of millions of dollars’ worth of ransom payments obtained through two related civil forfeiture cases, which included 39.89138522 Bitcoin and $6.1 million in U.S. dollar funds traceable to alleged ransom payments received by other members of the conspiracy.
As cyber crime and ransomware are becoming more common, it is imperative to secure your business against these attacks.
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