Authorities in Cleveland held a press conference to release details on what’s being described as “a significant announcement involving an international cybercrime network targeting U.S. victims causing tens of millions of dollars in losses.”
“Today we announce the unsealing of an indictment charging three Russian nationals and two companies for their roles in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure,” said United States Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “These actions affected victims in 21 states and nations around the world, resulting in more than $62 million in losses to victims.”
Toepfer announced that a federal grand jury has returned a 75-page indictment — amid an investigation that spanned approximately seven years — with charges against three people and two companies in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The three suspects, who all remain in Russia, include:
— Aleksandr Volosovik: Age 43
— Yulia Pankova: Age 29
— Kirill Zatolokin: Age 34
The two companies include:
— Media Land, LLC
— ML.Cloud, LLC
$10 MILLION REWARD
Anybody with information regarding the defendants named in the indictment is asked to contact authorities at Rewards For Justice by clicking HERE.
“Rewards for Justice (RFJ) is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, participates in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” according to the RFJ site. “Under this reward offer, RFJ is seeking information on the Russian-based bulletproof hosting (BPH) services company Media Land, its associated company ML.Cloud, and associated staff Aleksandr Alexandrovich Volosovik, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, and Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankova.”
INVESTIGATION DETAILS
“Media Land and ML.Cloud posed as legitimate internet hosting services to hide the true criminal nature of Media Land,” Toepfer said. “In fact, Media Land controlled vast numbers of servers, which controlled thousands of IP addresses that hosted some of the most vicious ransomware gangs on the planet.”
He explained that these organizations offered a service known as bulletproof hosting.
“The cyber criminals used bulletproof hosting to evade security software so they could infect computer systems of organizations and then hold them for ransom,” Toepfer said. “Because cyber criminals use these services, Media Land grew to be the largest bulletproof hosting service in the world. The thousands of IP addresses they controlled dwarfed their nearest competitors. Nevertheless, despite their best efforts to protect their cyber criminal clients, the FBI and its domestic and international partners were able to trace the attack vectors back to Media Land’s infrastructure.”
OHIO CONNECTION
Toepfer said that as the investigation grew, victims were found in 21 total states and other nations around the world, including Australia, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United Kingdom.”
The case was charged here in Ohio because that’s where many of the victims are located, including Akron, Brookfield, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Medina, Findlay, Solon and Valley View.
Special Agent in Charge Joshua Del Manzo, FBI Cleveland Division, said this action was part of Operation Riptide, which is described as “an ongoing FBI campaign targeting the criminal actors, infrastructure and financial networks behind cybercrime, cyber-enabled crime and fraud against the American people.”
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