The U.S. Treasury Department has expanded the Foreign Assets Control Authority (OFAC) sanctions list. Seven legal entities registered in Russia and 17 individuals, most of whom are citizens of the Russian Federation, came under restrictive measures for allegedly related cybercrime activities. According to the American authorities, they are involved in the activities of “one of the most active criminal organizations in the world in cyberspace” Evil Corp.

According to the website of the US Treasury, this “Russian cybercrime organization” is allegedly responsible for the development and distribution of Dridex malware that “infected computers” and collected account information from hundreds of banking and financial institutions in more than 40 countries, leading to theft more than $ 100 million

“Evil Corp functions as a commercial organization, which is led by a group of people located in Moscow, in Russia. They have many years of experience and are in well-developed, trusting relationships with each other, ”the statement said.

According to the American authorities, 32-year-old Maxim Yakubets led this hacker group. At the same time, it is said that he allegedly since 2017 collaborated with the FSB of Russia in working to obtain confidential documents with the help of cyber attacks.

Two other important figures of Evil Corp are called Igor Turashev and Denis Gusev. The latter, allegedly, is the CEO of another six companies on the sanctions list. In addition, the hacker group included another 14 people, among whom are citizens of Russia, Spain, Israel, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice website says that Yakubts and Turashev have been indicted in the states of Pennsylvania and Nebrask for allegedly carrying out hacker attacks and fraudulent acts that have caused tens of millions of dollars of damage over the past 10 years.

We add that the United States authorities announced a reward for information that would lead to the detention of Maxim Viktorovich Yakubets in the amount of $ 5 million. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this reward is the largest in history proposed for data on a cybercriminal.

  • © fbi.gov

In addition, material on Russian “hackers” was posted on its website by the UK National Crime Agency. This agency collaborated with the FBI in exposing "the world's most harmful cybercriminal gang." Evil Corp claims to be the greatest threat to cybersecurity in the United Kingdom.

It is also said that Yakubets allegedly hired dozens of people for cyber operations that "worked from the cellars of Moscow cafes." In addition, data is presented that the Russian allegedly owns a Lamborghini car with the number plate "Thief" and he spent more than £ 250 thousand on his wedding.

We add that the name of the criminal cyber organization Evil Corp is translated from English as “Corporation of Evil”.

Recall, the FBI said earlier that mobile applications developed in Russia threaten US security. Thus, the US intelligence agency responded to a request from Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer about the danger that when Americans use FaceApp, their personal data will be at the disposal of a “foreign power that is hostile to the US in cyberspace.”

The FBI believes that the Russian authorities supposedly can get unhindered access to data inside Russian Internet networks, despite the fact that FaceApp does not store images in Russia, but in cloud services in the USA, Singapore, Ireland and Australia.

"The USA again baselessly blamed the Russian government"

US government officials again groundlessly blamed the Russian government, said Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov, commenting on allegations of the alleged connection between the Evil Corp “hacker group” and Russian intelligence agencies.

“No evidence has been submitted. This practice has generally become the norm for partners. For a long time, we have been proposing to the American side to establish a direct dialogue on cybersecurity issues and agree on a joint response to relevant threats. However, Washington is carefully ignoring this idea, preferring to label Russia as a cybercriminal. Such rhetoric will clearly not help in stabilizing bilateral relations, ”the Russian ambassador said in a comment.

According to State Duma deputy Anton Morozov, one should stop reacting to the constant expansion of anti-Russian restrictive measures by the United States and try to build bilateral relations based on mutual interests.

“They (the sanctions. - RT ) do not entail any significant reaction either in business or in finances,” said parliamentarian RT.