Tag Archives: Latvia

Operator of ‘VirusTotal for criminals’ gets 14-year prison sentence

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A Latvian hacker convicted of crimes relating to running the for-profit malware scanning site “Scan4You” was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday. Ruslan Bondars, 37, was convicted earlier this year on three charges, including violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and computer intrusion with intent to cause damage. The court found a loss amount of $20.5 billion. “Ruslan Bondars helped malware developers attack American businesses,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski. “The Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners make no distinction between service providers like Scan4You and the hackers they assist: we will hold them accountable for all of the significant harm they cause and work tirelessly to bring them to justice, wherever they may be located.” Operated from 2009 to 2016, Scan4You is similar to VirusTotal — a long-running repository favored by the cybersecurity industry — but was intentionally […]

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Latvian hacker sentenced to 33 months in prison for scareware scheme

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A Latvian hacker was sentenced to 33 months in prison on Wednesday after earning over $150,000 in a “scareware” scheme that infected computers after visiting the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s website in 2010. Peteris Sahurovs, 29, received the sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He will be deported to Latvia following the sentence. At one time, Sahurovs was among the FBI’s most wanted criminals.  From 2009 to 2011, he operated a “bullet-proof” web hosting service in Latvia. The hacker sold server space to criminals who needed a host willing to ignore illegal activity on their servers. “The defendant admitted that he knew his customers were using his servers to perpetrate criminal schemes, including the transmission of malware, fake anti-virus software, spam, and botnets to unwitting victims, and he received notices from Internet governance entities (such as Spamhaus) that his servers were hosting malicious activity,” according to a Department of Justice […]

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Latvian national convicted of running ‘VirusTotal-for-criminals’ malware scanner

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A Latvian hacker has been convicted of crimes relating to running “Scan4You,” a for-profit website that allowed criminals to test if malware could be detected by security software. Ruslan Bondars, 37, was convicted by a federal jury on three charges including violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and computer intrusion with intent to cause damage. Bondars faces the possibility of 35 years in prison, but sentences for this kind of crime are typically far smaller in practice. He was arrested last year with Jurijs Martisevs, another Latvian accused of running Scan4You. Martisevs plead guilty earlier this year. “Ruslan Bondars designed and operated a service that provided essential aid to some of the world’s most destructive hackers,” Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. Bondars was responsible for the technical infrastructure of the service. Scan4You is similar in many ways […]

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Charges of political hacking emerge as major German federal election approaches

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It just wouldn’t be a modern day election without the possibility of cyberattacks and international conflict casting a shadow over the process. With the German federal election approaching on Sept. 24, a political ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said her website was the subject of around 3,000 attempted cyber attacks in the run up to Sunday’s crucial televised debate. Julia Kloeckner, vice chairman of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, did not explain the nature of the attacks but said “many of the senders have Russian IP addresses.” Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed to CyberScoop they are in contact with CDU over the alleged attacks but could not discuss specific details. The party did not respond to inquiries about the exact nature of the attacks. The vagueness left experts wondering if the thousands of “attacks” are actually something far less severe such as vulnerability scans or a denial of service […]

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Ahead of Trump-Putin meeting, Russian Embassy protests arrest of hacker

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Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday accused the U.S. of “kidnapping” Yury Martyshev, a Latvian man with Russian citizenship who is accused of committing cybercrime. Former U.S. law enforcement officials, however, say that what Russia considers kidnapping is in reality a legitimate and legal effort to arrest a criminal. Martyshev was arrested overseas and extradited to the U.S. late last month to face charges in a Virginia court. He is accused of helping run one of “the largest” hacking marketplaces on the dark web, where customers could trade and purchase illegal penetration, vulnerability and malware testing tools, according to unsealed court documents. He was originally indicted in October 2016. Some experts believe Martyshev was behind the infamous Scan4You service, which went down earlier this year. In a statement posted to the Russian Embassy’s Facebook page, a spokesperson called for the U.S. to return Martyshev, who is also known as Jurijs Martisevs, in order to recognize the “legitimate rights […]

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