The United States has filed charges against a Ukrainian national, Mark Sokolovsky, for his alleged involvement in the Raccoon Infostealer malware-as-a-service enterprise, which is responsible for infecting millions of computers throughout the globe.
An indictment against Sokolovsky, alias "raccoonstealer," was released on Tuesday, Oct. 25. He is presently imprisoned in the Netherlands for extradition to the US, as per the report by TechCrunch.
How Raccoon Infostealer Do Their Illegal Activities
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Sokolovsky with being one of the principal administrators of Raccoon Infostealer. This Windows virus harvests credentials, credit card details, stored login and password combinations, and precise locations.
According to the DOJ, individuals rented Raccoon Infostealer for about $200 per month, paying the malware's administrators in cryptocurrencies, most often Bitcoin.
These hackers used a wide variety of methods, including phishing scams themed around COVID-19 and malicious websites, to infect unsuspecting users' computers. The software infected their computers and collected sensitive information, such as passwords, banking information, crypto addresses, and more, which were then utilized in financial crimes or sold on underground markets.
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Possible Victims of the Gang
US authorities claim that since February 2019, the virus has stolen over 50 million victims' unique credentials and forms of identity. The unsealed indictment names a financial technology business in Texas and a person with access to US Army computer networks as victims.
Group-IB, a cybersecurity company, speculated that malware was utilized in the current Uber incident to acquire employee passwords.
Despite this, the DOJ has said that it does not think it has all the data obtained by Raccoon Infostealer and continues to investigate.
On Tuesday, the FBI also said that it had launched a website where people could see whether any of their personal information had been included in the trove of data taken by Raccoon Infostealer.
Anybody concerned they may be a victim must check out the website and the FBI's guidelines on reporting a possible incident.
Capturing a Foreign Criminal
In March 2022, when Dutch investigators caught Raccoon Infostealer's culprit, Sokolovsky, the Justice Department claimed to have collaborated with European law enforcement to destroy the network that powered the operation.
TechCrunch reported that one of the malware operation's key developers was purportedly murdered during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting the malware operation to announce that it would temporarily cease activities. Apparently, Raccoon Infostealer 2.0 was launched in June of this year.
A statement by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco emphasized the significance of international collaboration between the US DOJ and its partners in eradicating contemporary cyber concerns. Data breaches like this one, with potentially millions of victims worldwide, show how important it is to work together across national boundaries to combat this growing menace.
If convicted, Sokolovsky could spend up to 20 years in jail on charges including computer fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft. According to the DOJ, Sokolovsky is contesting the Amsterdam District Court's September 2022 decision to extradite him to the US.
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Written by Trisha Kae Andrada
