Members of international malware ring who targeted Western Pa. prosecuted
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Three members of an international malware cybercrime syndicate have been sentenced in what U.S. authorities are calling a “borderless response” that has involved police agencies in America and Europe.
Krasimir Nikolov, 47, of Varna, Bulgaria, was sentenced Monday in Pittsburgh by U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer to time served after spending the last three years in jail.
He will be deported to Bulgaria, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh announced Friday.
Alexander Konovolov and Marat Kazandjian were arrested and prosecuted in the country of Georgia, where Konovolov was sentenced to seven years and Kazandjian to five, according to Georgian authorities. Those cases involved an unprecedented level of cooperation that including testimony from a Pittsburgh-based FBI agent and a computer scientist, prosecutors said.
“Borderless cybercrime necessitates a borderless response,” Scott Brady, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
Nikolov was an account takeover specialist for the GozNym ring of hackers that used malware of the same name to access online bank accounts, prosecutors alleged. Nikolov attempted to steal cash using electronic transfers into bank accounts controlled by the group.
Authorities from Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Germany investigated the ring, along with the European Union agencies Europol and Eurojust. In May, Brady announced the indictment by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh of 10 members of the group on computer, wire and bank fraud charges and conspiracy to launder money.
Konovolov of Tbilisi, Georgia, was the organizer and leader of the GozNym network that controlled more than 41,000 computers infected with the malware. Other members of the group were recruited in online criminal forums, prosecutors said. Konovolov’s assistant and technical adviser was Kazandjian of Kazakhstan and Tbilisi, Georgia.
The men were prosecuted in Georgia for violations of Georgian criminal laws against U.S. victims, including some in Western Pennsylvania, prosecutors said.
“For years, these cyber criminals believed they could steal millions from innocent victims. Through international cooperation with multiple agencies, we were able to target, take down and bring to justice members of this criminal enterprise,” FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Robert Jones said in a statement.