US authorities have sentenced Moldovan citizen Sandu Diacon (also known as utmsandu, sandushell, rootarhive and WinD3str0y) to 42 months in prison for running E-Root, a large darknet marketplace that sold access to hacked computers around the world.
According to court documents, after the end of the term of imprisonment, Deacon, who was an E-Root administrator between January 2015 and February 2020, will be supervised for another 3 years.
Recall that Sandu Diaconu was arrested in the UK back in 2021, while trying to flee the country after the authorities confiscated E-Root domains at the end of 2020. In the fall of 2023, he agreed to be extradited to the United States, where he and unnamed accomplices were charged with electronic communications fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, computer fraud, and access device fraud.
E-Root was a marketplace that offered access to hacked computers around the world in exchange for cryptocurrency. According to the data obtained during the investigation, the site sold access to more than 350,000 hacked systems, including computers in various industries and at least one government system in Tampa (Florida, USA).
"Based on evidence obtained during the investigation, authorities believe that more than 350,000 credentials were put up for sale on the marketplace, according to the US Department of Justice. "The victims were located all over the world and were connected to all industries. Many victims were exposed to ransomware attacks, and some of the stolen credentials posted on the marketplace were linked to tax fraud and identity theft schemes."
On E-Root, customers had access to various filters and search tools, that is, ads were ordered by price range, region, provider, operating system, RDP or SSH access, and so on.
Last fall, law enforcement officers noted that E-Root worked in a distributed network that provides the service with stability and secrecy, and also had security tools that allowed hiding the real identities of sellers, buyers and administrators. In addition, the trading platform also had a specialized cryptocurrency exchange service that allowed users to convert Bitcoin to Perfect Money and vice versa.
• Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/p...ison-operating-websites-involved-illicit-sale
• Source: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.402743/gov.uscourts.flmd.402743.43.0.pdf
According to court documents, after the end of the term of imprisonment, Deacon, who was an E-Root administrator between January 2015 and February 2020, will be supervised for another 3 years.
Recall that Sandu Diaconu was arrested in the UK back in 2021, while trying to flee the country after the authorities confiscated E-Root domains at the end of 2020. In the fall of 2023, he agreed to be extradited to the United States, where he and unnamed accomplices were charged with electronic communications fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, computer fraud, and access device fraud.
E-Root was a marketplace that offered access to hacked computers around the world in exchange for cryptocurrency. According to the data obtained during the investigation, the site sold access to more than 350,000 hacked systems, including computers in various industries and at least one government system in Tampa (Florida, USA).
"Based on evidence obtained during the investigation, authorities believe that more than 350,000 credentials were put up for sale on the marketplace, according to the US Department of Justice. "The victims were located all over the world and were connected to all industries. Many victims were exposed to ransomware attacks, and some of the stolen credentials posted on the marketplace were linked to tax fraud and identity theft schemes."
On E-Root, customers had access to various filters and search tools, that is, ads were ordered by price range, region, provider, operating system, RDP or SSH access, and so on.
Last fall, law enforcement officers noted that E-Root worked in a distributed network that provides the service with stability and secrecy, and also had security tools that allowed hiding the real identities of sellers, buyers and administrators. In addition, the trading platform also had a specialized cryptocurrency exchange service that allowed users to convert Bitcoin to Perfect Money and vice versa.
• Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/p...ison-operating-websites-involved-illicit-sale
• Source: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.402743/gov.uscourts.flmd.402743.43.0.pdf
