Russian Hacker Arrested For Conspiracy and Unauthorised Access in Nevada Company

Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov allegedly offered to pay an employee at a Nevada company $1 million in Bitcoin to install malware on his employer’s computer. The plans were foiled, however, when the employee opted to report the Russian national to the FBI instead. 

According to court documents, the US Department of Justice charged Kriuchkov, who traveled from Russia to the US to try and recruit the employee (known as CHS1 in the complaint), with conspiracy to damage a protected computer system.

The 27-year-old told the employee he was part of a larger gang. Over the course of three weeks in August, the FBI tracked Kriuchkov’s movements, eavesdropped on his communications, and collected evidence against him before arresting him in Los Angeles on Saturday. 

Kriuchkov had told the employee that after the malware was executed, it would provide his Russian colleagues access to data in the unnamed company’s network. Thereafter, the gang would threaten to sell the data in darknet markets unless the company paid a hefty ransom. To keep the company's security team preoccupied while the data looting was taking place, Kriuchkov told the employee that his fellow gang members would launch a DDoS attack on the company’s servers. 

Late on August 3, Kriuchkov disclosed his true plan to CHS1, explaining that he works for a group that pays employees to plant malware on their employers' servers. Initially, Kriuchkov offered CHS1 $500,000 for installing the malware but later upped the ante to $1 million after the malware transmitted.

He also agreed to make an upfront payment of 1 BTC and even helped the employee set up a Bitcoin wallet through anonymous browser Tor, so the wallet would not be traceable. On August 21, Kriuchkov met up with CHS1 for the final time, telling him the plan was delayed as his group was wrapped up with another project, which was supposed to provide a large payout.