US Treasury unveils sweeping sanctions against Russia cybercriminal group

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) has announced criminal charges and sanctions against 17 individuals and seven entities of a Russia-based cybercriminal group known as ‘Evil Corp’, including its alleged leader, Maksim Yakubets.

A 5 December 2019 OFAC statement also said the Department of Justice has charged two of Evil Corp’s members with criminal violations, while the Department of State has issued a bounty of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of its leader, who has alleged links to Russia’s FSB state security service. Other Evil Corp members targeted include Igor Turashev and Denis Gusev.

‘Treasury is sanctioning Evil Corp as part of a sweeping action against one of the world’s most prolific cybercriminal organisations,’ said Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury. ‘This coordinated action is intended to disrupt the massive phishing campaigns orchestrated by this Russian-based hacker group.’

OFAC said the Russia-based cybercriminal organisation was responsible for the development and distribution of the Dridex malware to infect computers and harvest login credentials from banks and other institutions in over 40 countries, causing more than $100 million in theft.

OFAC said the measures were carried out in close cooperation with the UK’s National Crime Agency and other partners, and follow previous international actions against the cybercriminal group.  ‘Our goal is to shut down Evil Corp,’ added Mnuchin.

See:
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/aa19-339a

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm845