CNN
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A 28-year-old Russian man accused of creating and promoting a hacking software used to acquire the login info for tens of hundreds of computer systems worldwide was arrested within the nation of Georgia and extradited to the US, the Justice Division mentioned Wednesday.
Dariy Pankov is accused of promoting entry to greater than 35,000 computer systems, incomes greater than $350,000 in illicit gross sales, and enabling cybercriminals to conduct ransomware assaults and tax fraud, prosecutors mentioned.
Pankov’s arrest is the most recent transfer by US regulation enforcement businesses to attempt to nab accused Russian cybercriminals who enterprise exterior of Russia. US President Joe Biden in 2021 urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to reign in prison hackers, however Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a 12 months in the past has soured hopes of bilateral cooperation on the difficulty.
After being arrested in Georgia, which borders Russia, in October, Pankov made an preliminary look in a federal court docket in Tampa on Tuesday, the US lawyer for the Center District of Florida mentioned in an announcement.
Igor Litvak, a Brooklyn primarily based lawyer listed as representing Pankov in court docket data, didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday night time.
Pankov is being held in Pinellas County Jail exterior of Tampa, the place he was booked on Monday, Sgt. Amanda Sinni, a spokesperson for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace, informed CNN.
The hacking software that Pankov is accused of creating – generally known as “NLBrute” – used a standard method for cracking passwords by flooding a pc with password guesses.
Quite a few cybercrime teams have used the NLBrute software, in accordance with Adam Meyers, senior vice chairman of intelligence at cybersecurity agency CrowdStrike.
“It’s like a lockpick gun for burglars,” Meyers informed CNN.
Information of Pankov’s arrest follows the January arrest of a Russian cryptocurrency govt in Miami who allegedly oversaw the alternate of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} with drug traffickers and cybercriminals.
