Indianapolis, IN (WLFI) – A Russian citizen will spend more than six years in federal prison for his role in ransomware attacks that targeted dozens of U.S. companies.
26-year-old Aleksei Volkov, of St. Petersburg, Russia, was sentenced to 81 months for his part in cyberattacks that caused over $9 million in actual losses and more than $24 million in intended losses.
Volkov was indicted in both the Southern District of Indiana and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Police in Rome, Italy caught him and he was brought to the United States.
He pleaded guilty to unlawful transfer of a means of identification, trafficking in access information, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. He also pleaded guilty to two counts from the Pennsylvania case: conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The two cases were combined in the Southern District of Indiana.
Court records show Volkov worked as an “initial access broker.” That means he specialized in breaking into computer networks of corporations and organizations and selling that access to ransomware groups.
Volkov searched computer networks for weaknesses, figured out ways to get in without permission and sold that access to other cybercriminals.
Those criminals then infected the networks Volkov gave them access to with malware. The malware locked up the victims’ data and stopped them from accessing it, hurting their business operations.
The criminals then demanded victims pay them a ransom in cryptocurrency in exchange for restoring access to the data and promising not to publicly release the hack or post stolen data on a “leak” website.
When victims paid, Volkov got a cut of the money.
As part of his plea, Volkov admitted he and his partners hacked into victims’ computer networks, stole their data, deployed ransomware, demanded payment in cryptocurrency and divided the ransom payments among themselves.
Volkov agreed to pay full restitution to victims, including at least $9,167,198.19 to known victims to compensate them for their actual losses. He also agreed to give up equipment he used for his crimes
