Raccoon Stealer creator broken: hacker pleaded guilty

[Man]

The Raccoon Stealer has received an upgrade to jail.

Mark Sokolovsky has pleaded guilty to participating in the Raccoon Stealer malware distribution campaign.

Sokolovsky and his co-conspirators distributed the Raccoon Stealer on a MaaS (Malware-as-a-Service) model, renting the software for $75 per week or $200 per month. The malware stole a wide range of data from infected devices, including passwords and information from browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, bank card data, emails, and other sensitive information from dozens of applications.

Raccoon Stealer subscribers had access to the admin panel, where they could configure malware, retrieve stolen data, and create new builds of the program.

According to the indictment, Sokolovsky ("raccoon-stealer", "Photix" and "black21jack77777") was arrested in the Netherlands in March 2022. At the same time, the FBI, together with law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands and Italy, dismantled the Raccoon Stealer infrastructure and disabled the malware.

After Sokolovsky's arrest, the group suspended activities, saying that one of the leading developers died during the conflict in Ukraine. However, the operation was resumed twice, each time with new versions of the program with improved data-stealing capabilities.

The FBI has also collected some of the data stolen by the Raccoon Stealer and created a website where victims can check if their information has been archived for data stolen by the program. Those whose data has been compromised will be sent a confirmation and provided with resources for further action.

Sokolovsky was extradited to the United States in February 2024 after facing charges in October 2022, including fraud, money laundering and identity theft. For the most serious crimes, Sokolovsky faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to the DOJ, more than 50 million unique credentials and identification information were identified, including more than 4 million email addresses. At the same time, some of the stolen data remains undetected, and the investigation continues. As part of the plea bargain, Sokolovsky agreed to pay at least $910,844.61 in compensation and $23,975 for confiscation.

Source

 

[Man]

Raccoon Operator to Spend Five Years in US Prison

One of the developers of the Raccoon stealer has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States. We are talking about 28-year-old Ukrainian citizen Mark Sokolovsky, who was arrested in the Netherlands back in March 2022 at the request of the FBI.

"Sokolovsky is responsible for the compromise of 52 million credentials. They were used for fraudulent purposes, to steal other personal information, and in ransomware attacks that affected millions of people around the world," said FBI Special Agent Aaron Tapp.

According to documents released by the court, Sokolovsky hid under the nicknames raccoon-stealer, Photix, and black21jack77777. Together with his accomplices, he rented out the stealer to cybercriminals. A weekly subscription cost $75, a monthly subscription - $200. Now he has been ordered to pay a fine of almost $24,000 and pay damages in the amount of about $911,000.

After Sokolovsky's arrest in the Netherlands in 2022, the infrastructure of the version of Raccoon he was involved with was also shut down. The stealer's representatives initially announced that the infrastructure's failure was due to the disappearance of the employee responsible for it during the fighting in Ukraine. In October of that year, they admitted that it was Sokolovsky. In February 2024, he was extradited to the United States, and in October, he pleaded guilty and made a deal with the investigation.