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They were hunted by Interpol, the police of the USA, Germany, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine.
Sometimes you are simply surprised: why Ukraine suffers from Russian cyber attacks if it has such unrivaled IT talents. True, sometimes these are, so to speak, “criminal talents” and they fight not with Kremlin hackers, but more often with foreign banks. But - would these talents be at the service of the country?
March 26 is the latest case: in Kiev, the cyber police exposed another Ukrainian hacker who was hacking into computers of world banks and hotels. He is not the first, he had many predecessors - Ukrainian hackers were detained not only in Ukraine, but also abroad.
Ukrinform decided to remind readers of the most famous Ukrainian hackers. And these are those who managed to be detained.
1.On May 20, 2003, in the Thai city of Bangkok, at the request of the American authorities, a resident of Ternopil Maxim Vysochansky (real name Kovalchuk) was arrested on charges of hacking.
The United States accused the Ukrainian hacker of violating the copyrights of manufacturers, illegal distribution of software, money laundering and illegal entry into a computer network, which caused manufacturing companies $ 3 million in damage. Vysochansky himself was one of the ten most dangerous cybercriminals wanted by the FBI.
For almost a year, Vysochansky was in a Thai prison, and in March 2004 he was deported to the United States. Prosecutors asked the accused for 20 years in prison, but a California court found that the defendant pleaded guilty and sentenced him to 35 months in prison in May 2006.
After deportation to Ukraine, Maxim returned to his native Ternopol.
2. In the summer of 2007, Kharkiv citizen Maxim Yastremsky was arrested in Turkey , aka hacker Maksik, who cracked credit cards via the Internet and transferred money to his accounts in 13 countries of the world. Thus, he stole 11 million US dollars.
During the investigation, the US Department of Justice demanded the extradition of Yastremsky to America in order to judge him by his laws. But the Turkish authorities refused to extradite a Ukrainian, because only in this country 12 banking structures have claims against a Ukrainian.
In March 2009, the Antalya court convicted Maxim of 12 thefts from Turkish banks and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
3.In May 2008, the Ukrainian Yegor Shevelev was detained on an American warrant while on vacation in Greece .
The Ukrainian was considered a member of a hacker group that stole payment cards and caused property damage of $ 4 million.
According to investigators, while in Kiev from November 2001 to August 2007, he sold 95 thousand stolen cards, earning more than 600 thousand US dollars.
In August 2013, an American court convicted Shevelev and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
4. In June 2014 in Italy, an American warrant was detained Ukrainian Sergey Vovnenko. According to prosecutors, Vovnenko, under the nicknames Thomas Rimkis, Flycracker, Flyck, Fly (Fly), Centurion, MUXACC1, Strainer and Darklife, from September 2010 to August 2012, penetrated computers of individuals and companies in the United States and other countries and stole data , including usernames and passwords that gave hackers access to other people's bank accounts, as well as plastic card numbers and personal information of their owners.
In 2015, it was issued by the United States. Vovnenko was officially accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, computer hacking and identity theft. At first, the Ukrainian pleaded not guilty, but a month before the sentencing he pleaded guilty.
In February 2017, a court in New Jersey sentenced a Ukrainian hacker Sergey Vovnenko to the 41st month of imprisonment, and he also had to pay a fine of 83,368 thousand dollars.
5. In November 2014, a Kiev resident, Vadim Yermolovich , was detained in the United States , who was accused of having stolen more than 150,000 unreleased corporate press releases containing information about mergers and acquisitions, as well as reports on financial condition of large companies. This information helped to successfully play on the stock exchange: earnings amounted to about 100 million US dollars. In this case, two more Ukrainians are wanted - Alexander Eremenko and Ivan Turchinov.
In 2016, a Ukrainian hacker admitted in an American court theft of corporate releases prior to their publication.
On May 22, 2017, a federal court in Newark, New Jersey found Yermolovich guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated fraud and sentenced him to 2.5 years in prison and paid $ 3 million in damages.
It is worth noting that Ermolovich could have been imprisoned for 20 years, but they “slanted” the term thanks to cooperation with the investigation.
6. In July 2016, Kharkiv Artem Vaulin was arrested in Poland , who was accused of managing the largest torrent on the KickassTorrents network (KAT).
The U.S. Department of Justice accuses a Ukrainian of damaging copyright holders worth more than a billion dollars, setting up an underground organization, copyright infringement, and money laundering. In addition, the popular resource, whose monthly attendance was over 50 million people, earned over $ 12.5 million a year in advertising. In the US, Vaulina could face up to 30 years in prison.
Until the beginning of May 2017, Vaulin was in the Warsaw-Białolenka detention center, while the Polish authorities were considering the US request for his extradition. But the hacker did not agree to extradition and at the end of May 2017, a Polish court released Vaulin on bail of 108 thousand US dollars for health reasons.
Now the Ukrainian is free, but his passport was confiscated and he has no right to leave Poland.
7.In February 2018, in the city of Bielsko-Biala, employees of the Central Investigation Bureau of Poland, in collaboration with the FBI, detained a 44-year-old Ukrainian citizen who was suspected of distributing malware. The man was in the Interpol wanted database. An international arrest warrant was issued against him.
He is suspected of participating in an organized criminal group that distributes malware and is involved in hacker attacks. As the police noted, losses due to the criminal activities of the group to which the Ukrainian belonged are estimated at several hundred million dollars. The
Ukrainian hacker faces up to 30 years in prison. He is currently in custody pending extradition to the United States.
8.On February 25, 2018 in Kiev, cyber police detained the organizer of the international criminal platform Avalanche Gennady Kapkanov , who was wanted in 30 countries around the world.
The Avalanche network has been operating for 7 years and every day infected around half a million computers worldwide. Cash losses associated with the Avalanche cyber attacks, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to hundreds of millions of euros worldwide.
On February 26, 2018, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Poltava arrested Kapkanov for two months without the possibility of making a bail.
But this is not the first hacker arrest. In November 2016, he was already detained. But then the Poltava court refused to arrest the suspect. After the meeting, Gennady Kapkanov disappeared from the courtroom, but later he was put on the international wanted list.
The hacker is charged with involvement in the commission of crimes under Part 3 of Art. 209 (money laundering), for hours. 1 Article. 361 (unauthorized interference with computers), part 2 of article 342 (resistance to the representative of power) and part 4 of Art. 190 (fraud) UCU.
The criminal case against Avalanche is also being investigated by the Verdun prosecutor's office and the police of Luneburg (Federal Republic of Germany).
9.On March 6, 2018, in the city of Alicante in Spain, the 34-year-old Ukrainian Denis K was arrested. (last name not disclosed), who has been living in Alicante since 2014. According to the investigation, more than 100 banks from 40 countries became victims of the hacker. But the main theft they were committed in the banks of Russia. According to preliminary data, the amount stolen exceeds 1 billion euros, although we can talk about a much larger amount - up to 10 billion.
The Spaniards conducted the search and exposure of the hacker for three years with the assistance of Interpol and the US FBI.
After the arrest, the court arrested the hacker's cottage, in which he lived with his wife and daughter, on his cars and jewelry, which was estimated at half a million euros.
10.On March 13, 2018, employees of the Chernivtsi Cyber Police, together with German colleagues, exposed two hackers from Chernivtsi - a 28-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man (names were not disclosed in the interests of the investigation).
According to law enforcement authorities, Ukrainian hackers were part of a group that from 2013 to 2016 criminally obtained digital packet stamps (DHL lables), which then sold with substantial discounts. Losses to customers of the global logistics service DHL with its head office in Germany amounted to one and a half million euros.
In total, law enforcement officers have documented more than 200 cases of illegal sale of packet postage stamps. Criminally obtained funds were immediately cashed out through foreign currency accounts opened with banks in Cyprus and Spain.
Law enforcement authorities conducted searches at the addresses of accomplices of accomplices, during which computer equipment and information carriers were discovered and seized. According to the attackers, it was these computers that they used to achieve their criminal goals.
Sometimes you are simply surprised: why Ukraine suffers from Russian cyber attacks if it has such unrivaled IT talents. True, sometimes these are, so to speak, “criminal talents” and they fight not with Kremlin hackers, but more often with foreign banks. But - would these talents be at the service of the country?
March 26 is the latest case: in Kiev, the cyber police exposed another Ukrainian hacker who was hacking into computers of world banks and hotels. He is not the first, he had many predecessors - Ukrainian hackers were detained not only in Ukraine, but also abroad.
Ukrinform decided to remind readers of the most famous Ukrainian hackers. And these are those who managed to be detained.
1.On May 20, 2003, in the Thai city of Bangkok, at the request of the American authorities, a resident of Ternopil Maxim Vysochansky (real name Kovalchuk) was arrested on charges of hacking.
The United States accused the Ukrainian hacker of violating the copyrights of manufacturers, illegal distribution of software, money laundering and illegal entry into a computer network, which caused manufacturing companies $ 3 million in damage. Vysochansky himself was one of the ten most dangerous cybercriminals wanted by the FBI.
For almost a year, Vysochansky was in a Thai prison, and in March 2004 he was deported to the United States. Prosecutors asked the accused for 20 years in prison, but a California court found that the defendant pleaded guilty and sentenced him to 35 months in prison in May 2006.
After deportation to Ukraine, Maxim returned to his native Ternopol.
2. In the summer of 2007, Kharkiv citizen Maxim Yastremsky was arrested in Turkey , aka hacker Maksik, who cracked credit cards via the Internet and transferred money to his accounts in 13 countries of the world. Thus, he stole 11 million US dollars.
During the investigation, the US Department of Justice demanded the extradition of Yastremsky to America in order to judge him by his laws. But the Turkish authorities refused to extradite a Ukrainian, because only in this country 12 banking structures have claims against a Ukrainian.
In March 2009, the Antalya court convicted Maxim of 12 thefts from Turkish banks and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
3.In May 2008, the Ukrainian Yegor Shevelev was detained on an American warrant while on vacation in Greece .
The Ukrainian was considered a member of a hacker group that stole payment cards and caused property damage of $ 4 million.
According to investigators, while in Kiev from November 2001 to August 2007, he sold 95 thousand stolen cards, earning more than 600 thousand US dollars.
In August 2013, an American court convicted Shevelev and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
4. In June 2014 in Italy, an American warrant was detained Ukrainian Sergey Vovnenko. According to prosecutors, Vovnenko, under the nicknames Thomas Rimkis, Flycracker, Flyck, Fly (Fly), Centurion, MUXACC1, Strainer and Darklife, from September 2010 to August 2012, penetrated computers of individuals and companies in the United States and other countries and stole data , including usernames and passwords that gave hackers access to other people's bank accounts, as well as plastic card numbers and personal information of their owners.
In 2015, it was issued by the United States. Vovnenko was officially accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, computer hacking and identity theft. At first, the Ukrainian pleaded not guilty, but a month before the sentencing he pleaded guilty.
In February 2017, a court in New Jersey sentenced a Ukrainian hacker Sergey Vovnenko to the 41st month of imprisonment, and he also had to pay a fine of 83,368 thousand dollars.
5. In November 2014, a Kiev resident, Vadim Yermolovich , was detained in the United States , who was accused of having stolen more than 150,000 unreleased corporate press releases containing information about mergers and acquisitions, as well as reports on financial condition of large companies. This information helped to successfully play on the stock exchange: earnings amounted to about 100 million US dollars. In this case, two more Ukrainians are wanted - Alexander Eremenko and Ivan Turchinov.
In 2016, a Ukrainian hacker admitted in an American court theft of corporate releases prior to their publication.
On May 22, 2017, a federal court in Newark, New Jersey found Yermolovich guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated fraud and sentenced him to 2.5 years in prison and paid $ 3 million in damages.
It is worth noting that Ermolovich could have been imprisoned for 20 years, but they “slanted” the term thanks to cooperation with the investigation.
6. In July 2016, Kharkiv Artem Vaulin was arrested in Poland , who was accused of managing the largest torrent on the KickassTorrents network (KAT).
The U.S. Department of Justice accuses a Ukrainian of damaging copyright holders worth more than a billion dollars, setting up an underground organization, copyright infringement, and money laundering. In addition, the popular resource, whose monthly attendance was over 50 million people, earned over $ 12.5 million a year in advertising. In the US, Vaulina could face up to 30 years in prison.
Until the beginning of May 2017, Vaulin was in the Warsaw-Białolenka detention center, while the Polish authorities were considering the US request for his extradition. But the hacker did not agree to extradition and at the end of May 2017, a Polish court released Vaulin on bail of 108 thousand US dollars for health reasons.
Now the Ukrainian is free, but his passport was confiscated and he has no right to leave Poland.
7.In February 2018, in the city of Bielsko-Biala, employees of the Central Investigation Bureau of Poland, in collaboration with the FBI, detained a 44-year-old Ukrainian citizen who was suspected of distributing malware. The man was in the Interpol wanted database. An international arrest warrant was issued against him.
He is suspected of participating in an organized criminal group that distributes malware and is involved in hacker attacks. As the police noted, losses due to the criminal activities of the group to which the Ukrainian belonged are estimated at several hundred million dollars. The
Ukrainian hacker faces up to 30 years in prison. He is currently in custody pending extradition to the United States.
8.On February 25, 2018 in Kiev, cyber police detained the organizer of the international criminal platform Avalanche Gennady Kapkanov , who was wanted in 30 countries around the world.
The Avalanche network has been operating for 7 years and every day infected around half a million computers worldwide. Cash losses associated with the Avalanche cyber attacks, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to hundreds of millions of euros worldwide.
On February 26, 2018, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Poltava arrested Kapkanov for two months without the possibility of making a bail.
But this is not the first hacker arrest. In November 2016, he was already detained. But then the Poltava court refused to arrest the suspect. After the meeting, Gennady Kapkanov disappeared from the courtroom, but later he was put on the international wanted list.
The hacker is charged with involvement in the commission of crimes under Part 3 of Art. 209 (money laundering), for hours. 1 Article. 361 (unauthorized interference with computers), part 2 of article 342 (resistance to the representative of power) and part 4 of Art. 190 (fraud) UCU.
The criminal case against Avalanche is also being investigated by the Verdun prosecutor's office and the police of Luneburg (Federal Republic of Germany).
9.On March 6, 2018, in the city of Alicante in Spain, the 34-year-old Ukrainian Denis K was arrested. (last name not disclosed), who has been living in Alicante since 2014. According to the investigation, more than 100 banks from 40 countries became victims of the hacker. But the main theft they were committed in the banks of Russia. According to preliminary data, the amount stolen exceeds 1 billion euros, although we can talk about a much larger amount - up to 10 billion.
The Spaniards conducted the search and exposure of the hacker for three years with the assistance of Interpol and the US FBI.
After the arrest, the court arrested the hacker's cottage, in which he lived with his wife and daughter, on his cars and jewelry, which was estimated at half a million euros.
10.On March 13, 2018, employees of the Chernivtsi Cyber Police, together with German colleagues, exposed two hackers from Chernivtsi - a 28-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man (names were not disclosed in the interests of the investigation).
According to law enforcement authorities, Ukrainian hackers were part of a group that from 2013 to 2016 criminally obtained digital packet stamps (DHL lables), which then sold with substantial discounts. Losses to customers of the global logistics service DHL with its head office in Germany amounted to one and a half million euros.
In total, law enforcement officers have documented more than 200 cases of illegal sale of packet postage stamps. Criminally obtained funds were immediately cashed out through foreign currency accounts opened with banks in Cyprus and Spain.
Law enforcement authorities conducted searches at the addresses of accomplices of accomplices, during which computer equipment and information carriers were discovered and seized. According to the attackers, it was these computers that they used to achieve their criminal goals.