What is Mark Sokolovsky accused of and how many years does he face for his crimes?
On February 15, it became known that Mark Sokolovsky, a 28-year-old Ukrainian and part-time operator of the Raccoon Stealer malware, was extradited to the United States from the Netherlands for an upcoming trial.
Back in October 2020, the US Department of Justice charged Sokolovsky with computer fraud for infecting millions of computers with a virus to steal data.
In March 2022, a man was arrested in the Netherlands and charged with participating in the international cybercrime operation "Raccoon Stealer". Despite an appeal against the Dutch court's decision to extradite him to the United States, he was still transported there to participate in the trial.
Raccoon was first discovered in April 2019. This infostealer was designed to steal credit card details, email accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and other sensitive information. The program was offered for rent as a service with an automated backend, providing reliable hosting and round-the-clock support for $ 200 per month.
According to experts, by the time it was first detected, the malware had already infected more than 100,000 users worldwide, mainly targeting cryptocurrency applications, popular browsers and email clients.
Sokolovsky's arrest coincided with the elimination of Raccoon's C2 infrastructure, which was carried out jointly by the FBI and law enforcement agencies in Italy and the Netherlands. Experts found more than 50 million unique credentials in the stolen information, including email addresses, bank accounts and credit card numbers.
It is estimated that the number of victims affected by the actions of the infostealer "Raccoon" totals millions of people around the world.
Sokolovsky is charged with computer fraud, fraud involving the use of electronic means of communication, money laundering and identity theft with aggravating circumstances. For the most serious crimes, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Sokolovsky first appeared before a US court on February 9. The trial will take some time, after which the whole world will know what punishment the Ukrainian hacker will receive.
Cybercrime is a dangerous and illegal activity that every attacker will have to answer for sooner or later. Even if justice can be successfully avoided for a while, it doesn't mean that it will last forever. This is something that any dark hacker should think about, so that they don't end up behind bars and cross out their entire life.
On February 15, it became known that Mark Sokolovsky, a 28-year-old Ukrainian and part-time operator of the Raccoon Stealer malware, was extradited to the United States from the Netherlands for an upcoming trial.
Back in October 2020, the US Department of Justice charged Sokolovsky with computer fraud for infecting millions of computers with a virus to steal data.
In March 2022, a man was arrested in the Netherlands and charged with participating in the international cybercrime operation "Raccoon Stealer". Despite an appeal against the Dutch court's decision to extradite him to the United States, he was still transported there to participate in the trial.
Raccoon was first discovered in April 2019. This infostealer was designed to steal credit card details, email accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and other sensitive information. The program was offered for rent as a service with an automated backend, providing reliable hosting and round-the-clock support for $ 200 per month.
According to experts, by the time it was first detected, the malware had already infected more than 100,000 users worldwide, mainly targeting cryptocurrency applications, popular browsers and email clients.
Sokolovsky's arrest coincided with the elimination of Raccoon's C2 infrastructure, which was carried out jointly by the FBI and law enforcement agencies in Italy and the Netherlands. Experts found more than 50 million unique credentials in the stolen information, including email addresses, bank accounts and credit card numbers.
It is estimated that the number of victims affected by the actions of the infostealer "Raccoon" totals millions of people around the world.
Sokolovsky is charged with computer fraud, fraud involving the use of electronic means of communication, money laundering and identity theft with aggravating circumstances. For the most serious crimes, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Sokolovsky first appeared before a US court on February 9. The trial will take some time, after which the whole world will know what punishment the Ukrainian hacker will receive.
Cybercrime is a dangerous and illegal activity that every attacker will have to answer for sooner or later. Even if justice can be successfully avoided for a while, it doesn't mean that it will last forever. This is something that any dark hacker should think about, so that they don't end up behind bars and cross out their entire life.
