Two Russian nationals have been added to the FBI cyber criminals most wanted list. One is wanted for hacking US based firms and stealing confidential data including employee identities, while the other one for infecting PCs in more than 100 countries.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for Alexsey Belan
who is wanted for allegedly compromising the cyber security
systems of three unnamed major US based e-commerce companies in
Nevada and California between January of 2012 and April of 2013.
Between January of 2012, and April of 2013, Alexsey Belan is
alleged to have invaded the computer networks of three major
United States-based e-commerce companies in Nevada and
California. After hacking the systems, Belan is accused of
stealing and exporting user databases with passwords to his
server. Belan also allegedly negotiated the sales of the
databases.
Two federal arrests warrants have been issued for Belan in Nevada
and California. In Las Vegas, Belan is charged with obtaining
information from a protected computer; possession of fifteen or
more unauthorized access devices; and aggravated identity theft.
In San Francisco, Belan was charged with two fraud counts and two
counts of aggravated theft of identity.
The 26-year-old Belan was one of five new hackers added to the
most wanted list on Tuesday.
Syrian born and holding a Russian passport Andrey Nabilevich
Taame is wanted in connection with ‘Operation Ghost Click’, an
FBI investigation that focused on a cyber-gang that compromised
four million computers in 100 countries. At least 500,000
suffered in the attack in the United States from 2007 to
2011.
The ring allegedly infected PCs with malware called DNSChanger,
which enabled the hackers to modify browser settings on Windows
to redirect traffic to advertisers. The virus was first detected
on the NASA computer network.
New additions also include two Pakistanis and a Salvadorian.
Noor Aziz Uddin and Farhan Arshad are believed to be involved in
an international telecoms hacking scheme that caused over $50
million damage to business telephone systems between 2008 and
2012.
The last addition is Carlos Perez-Melara from El Salvador. Melara
is wanted for distributing a piece of spyware through a website
that claimed to be offering services for “catching cheating
lovers.”
“The cyber fugitives we seek have caused significant losses to
individuals and to our economy. And cybercrime continues to pose
a significant threat to our national security,” said
Executive Assistant Director of our Criminal, Cyber, Response,
and Services Branch Richard McFeely on Tuesday.
“Because cybercrime knows no boundaries, cybercriminals think
they can hide overseas. But we are using our international
partnerships and the publicity generated by our Cyber’s Most
Wanted to ferret them out,” McFeedly added.
According to an independent study by the Group-IB, Russian
cybercrime security firm, the so called Russian sector of global
cybercrime is estimated to be worth $ 4.5 billion. The 2011
figures show that Russians take home a third of the world market
share.
Besides new additions, FBI also lists 2 other Russians in the top
ten.
Aleksandr Bobnev is wanted on one count of conspiracy to commit
wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering.
Artem Semenov is wanted for unauthorized money transfers and
conspiracy to commit bank fraud using fake passports.