Long Sentences for Four Russians Linked to REvil Ransomware

The Russian justice system has sentenced four people linked to the prolific REvil ransomware operation.

Russian news agency Kommersant reported on Friday that St. He said that the St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court sentenced Artem Zayets, Aleksey Malozemov, Daniil Puzyrevsky and Ruslan Khansvyarov to 4.5 to 6 years in prison on charges of using and distributing malware, as well as money laundering.

“Investigation links convicts to hacking group Revil,” the document translated by Google reads report. “Their activities became known at the request of US law enforcement agencies, which reported on the leader of the criminal group and his participation in attacks on information resources of foreign high-tech companies.”

A multi-year investigation

The arrests “took place in various regions of the Russian Federation in June 2021,” the news outlet reported.

Nearly two years ago, 14 people were initially detained in the REvil case when Russian authorities ended the ransomware operation after President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke about taking tough action against Russian extortionists.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) launched REvil after receiving information from “authorized US agencies that a criminal group leader was involved in attacks on the IT resources of foreign high-tech companies by planting malware, encrypting data and exchanging money.” decoding” reported TASS of Russia in January 2022.

Members of the REvil operation are said to have carried out thousands of cyberattacks on organizations around the world, extorting hundreds of millions of dollars from victims.

In the end, only eight defendants were brought to trial; four of them have now received their final sentences under various articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including illegal access to computer information and illegal circulation of digital currency.

None of the defendants admitted guilt.