The United States Department of Justice today disclosed the identities of two Russian hackers and charged them for developing and distributing the
Dridex banking Trojan using which the duo stole more than $100 million over a period of 10 years.
Maksim Yakubets, the leader of 'Evil Corp' hacking group, and his co-conspirator
Igor Turashev primarily distributed Dridex — also known as '
Bugat' and '
Cridex' — through multi-million email campaigns and targeted numerous organizations around the world.
The State Department has also announced a reward of up to $5 million—the largest offered bounty to date for a cybercrime suspect—for providing information that could lead to the arrest of Yakubets, who remains at large.
"Bugat is a multifunction malware package designed to automate the theft of confidential personal and financial information, such as online banking credentials, from infected computers," the DoJ said in its
press release.
"Bugat malware was specifically crafted to defeat antivirus and other protective measures employed by victims. Later versions of the malware were designed with the added function of assisting in the installation of ransomware."
Besides developing and distributing Dridex, Yakubets has also been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with the infamous "Zeus" banking malware that stole $70 million from victims' bank accounts.
Starting May 2009, Yakubets and his co-conspirators allegedly employed widespread computer intrusions, malicious software, and fraud in an effort to steal millions of dollars from numerous bank accounts in the United States and elsewhere.
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FBI Puts $5 Million Bounty On Russian Hackers Behind Dridex Banking Malware