A Ukrainian man pleaded responsible in federal court docket on Thursday to his management position in two cyberattack schemes that triggered tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in losses and quickly crippled a Vermont hospital in 2020, in accordance with the Justice Division.
Prosecutors mentioned that Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, 37, was a pacesetter for a company that in Could 2009 started to contaminate 1000’s of computer systems at firms with malicious software program, and that he helped lead a separate malware scheme that started round November 2018.
Mr. Penchukov, of Donetsk, pleaded responsible within the U.S. District Courtroom in Nebraska to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit an offense that violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was arrested in Switzerland in 2022 and was extradited to america in 2023. A lawyer for Mr. Penchukov couldn’t be discovered as a result of the court docket file was sealed.
The Justice Division mentioned that Mr. Penchukov helped lead “a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and conspiracy” that put in malicious software program referred to as Zeus onto 1000’s of enterprise computer systems, beginning in 2009. The malware allowed the enterprise to gather info used to log into on-line banking accounts, together with passwords and private identification numbers.
Mr. Penchukov and different members of the group then portrayed themselves as staff of the companies who had been licensed to switch cash from the accounts they focused, inflicting thousands and thousands of {dollars} in losses, in accordance with the Justice Division.
The cash was deposited into the accounts of residents of america and different nations who had been referred to as “cash mules,” and people individuals then despatched it to abroad accounts that had been run by Mr. Penchukov and different members of the group, in accordance with the Justice Division.
Mr. Penchukov had been charged for these offenses in 2012 whereas he was nonetheless at massive, in accordance with an indictment that was unsealed in 2014.
On Thursday, Mr. Penchukov additionally pleaded responsible to his management position within the separate malware scheme that ran from no less than November 2018 to February 2021, in accordance with federal prosecutors.
The malware, referred to as IcedID or Bokbot, was put in on computer systems to gather private info from victims, together with checking account credentials, and the info was used to steal from them, in accordance with the Justice Division. IcedID additionally allowed the cybercriminals to put in extra malware on contaminated computer systems, together with ransomware, which is used to lock digital info till the sufferer pays for its launch.
The targets of those ransomware assaults included the College of Vermont Medical Heart, which misplaced greater than $30 million, in accordance with the Justice Division. A 2020 assault on the hospital additionally “left the medical middle unable to offer many essential affected person companies for over two weeks, making a threat of demise or critical bodily harm to sufferers,” the Justice Division mentioned.
Staff on the College of Vermont Medical Heart informed The New York Occasions in November 2020 that the assault had compelled the hospital to ship away a whole bunch of most cancers sufferers and required workers to go looking via written data to search out essential info.
In September 2023, the medical middle’s president, Dr. Stephen Leffler, testified within the Home of Representatives, and mentioned that the hospital didn’t have entry to digital medical data for 28 days due to the assault.
“We didn’t have web,” Dr. Leffler mentioned. “We didn’t have telephones. It impacted radiology imaging, laboratory outcomes.”
The hospital mentioned in a press release that it was “pleased with our group’s work to offer the absolute best care whereas the investigation and restoration had been underway.”
Mr. Penchukov was often known as Vyacheslav Igoravich Andreev and Tank, a web-based nickname, in accordance with the Justice Division. He had been on the F.B.I.’s Cyber’s Most Wished Checklist for almost a decade.
Mr. Penchukov’s sentencing is scheduled for Could 9. He faces as much as 20 years in jail for every depend.
