CLEVELAND (WJW) — Three Russian nationals are now under indictment in Northern Ohio, charged with concealing cybercriminal gangs that targeted U.S. banks, hospitals and governments behind the largest “bulletproof” internet hosting service in the world.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday morning, July 14, joined federal investigators and cybersecurity officials to reveal the results of their seven-year investigation, which all started with one cyberattack in northern Ohio.
The bust “struck a serious blow to malicious ransomware and malware actors everywhere,” said Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney David Toepfer on Tuesday.
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The foreign hosting service Media Land and its associated company ML.Cloud, also charged in the indictment, hid cybercriminal gangs responsible for $61 million in losses to numerous victims in 21 states — including Ohio — as well as in Australia, Canada, the European Union, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, authorities said.
The victims were not named on Tuesday.
The alleged operators of the illicit hosting services, all based in St. Petersburg, Russia, are now facing federal cybercrime charges: Aleksandr Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin and Yulia Pankova.
From left to right: Aleksandr Volosovik, Yulia Pankova, Kirill Zatolokin, all of St. Petersburg, Russia (U.S Department of State)
Volosovik was Media Land’s director and advertised its illicit services under the alias “Yalishanda,” according to the U.S. Department of State. He provided servers and troubleshooting for ransomware groups and other online disruptors.
Zatolokin “worked closely” with Volosovik to run the network, collected customer payments and coordinated with other “malicious cyber actors,” according to the state department.
Pankova founded ML.Cloud, which authorities said processed payments from clients using the group’s “bulletproof” servers, which are used to hide online activity from law enforcement or the legal system.
The cybercriminals working through Media Land and ML.Cloud targeted local victims in Akron, Brookfield, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Medina, Solon and Valley View, said Joshua Del Manzo, special agent in charge at the FBI Cleveland Division.
The initial case that prompted an FBI investigation happened in northern Ohio, Toepfer told reporters on Tuesday, though he declined to elaborate on its nature. FBI investigators quickly realized the attack “was far larger than a particular hacker trying to break into someone’s system,” he said.
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Media Land, which operated on the darknet, was a “borderless powerhouse of criminal activity” that “fueled the rise of ransomware and malware” across the world, Del Manzo said.
Cyberattacks launched from behind its veil between 2016 and 2024 led to $61 million in losses, according to the state department. The cybercriminals targeted banks, schools, governments, hospitals and media companies, among dozens of other companies in the U.S.
Though the hosting service was based in St. Petersburg, federal authorities found tendrils of its network infrastructure in China, Finland, the Netherlands and the U.S., according to the state department.
The state department is now offering up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of cybercriminals linked to foreign governments through its Rewards for Justice program.
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