Feds unseal 2018 indictment charging Kazakh man in hacks
Two weeks after a cyber-security firm released the identity
of an alleged hacker from Kazakhstan, federal authorities in Seattle on Tuesday
unsealed a 2018 indictment charging the man with an array of computer crimes.
Andrey Turchin, known in hacking circles as “fxmsp,” and his
accomplices ran a prolific hacking ring that attacked hundreds of victims,
including government agencies, schools, banks and luxury hotel chains on six
continents, the indictment said.
Turchin, 37, is believed to be in Kazakhstan; prosecutors
had kept the indictment sealed to avoid tipping him off that he was being
sought. But in a motion to unseal the charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Seattle wrote that they now believe Turchin knows about the criminal
investigation and, given the security firm's public identification of him,
there was little reason to keep the indictment sealed.
The government still hopes to have him arrested and sent to
the U.S. to face charges, the prosecutors said. It was unclear if Turchin had
obtained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
"By working closely with our international law
enforcement partners at the UK’s National Crime Agency, along with victims,
private sector security researchers and great cooperation from our
international law enforcement partners in Kazakhstan, the FBI was able to
disrupt Mr. Turchin and his alleged co-conspirator’s criminal intrusions,” Raymond
Duda, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle field office, said in a
news release.
The Singapore-based cyber-security firm Group-IB, which has
previously cooperated with international law enforcement agencies, published a
report last month on fxmsp's activities, identifying the hacker as Turchin. The
firm said Turchin and his associates would attack organizations and then sell
access to their networks on underground forums or in private sales, promising
buyers they would become the “invisible god of networks.”
The group brought in at least $1.5 million, Group-IB said.
According to the indictment, the hackers would sometimes
modify antivirus software settings to remain undetected. They typically sold
network access for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, but for some they
sought more than $100,000.
Among the victims was a port authority in Cowlitz County,
Washington — the Port of Longview announced that it had been the victim of a
major hack in 2018 — as well as a petroleum products company in Alaska, an
airline based in New York, a software developer in California, a Colorado law
firm and an African bank, the indictment said. It did not name the alleged
victims.
Turchin faces five criminal counts, including conspiracy to
commit computer hacking, computer fraud and abuse, conspiracy to commit wire
fraud, and access device fraud. The most serious charge, conspiracy to commit
wire fraud, carries a sentence of up to 20 years.
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