Now they face up to 15 years in prison, report in the Cyber Police.
100 million accounts have been secured
The offenders acted by the following methods brute force (password selection by searching a large number of password phrases using special software).
It has been preliminarily established that during a year of criminal activity, the group members formed databases of stolen accounts of more than 100 million Internet users from around the world. The information will be verified in the course of the investigation.
The defendants lived in different regions of Ukraine and contacted each other via the Internet. The organizer distributed responsibilities among the perpetrators, and the latter formed databases of hacked accounts and put them up for sale on the darknet.
According to intelligence information, the customers of the attackers in the shadow segment of the Internet were mainly fraudulent groups. These communities bought compromised accounts to use in various fraudulent schemes, including «Friend asks for a loan».
Law enforcement officers conducted 7 searches at the residences and registered offices of the suspects in Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as Kyiv, Donetsk and Kirovohrad regions. More than 70 pieces of computer equipment, 14 telephones, bank cards and cash, including more than USD 3,000, were seized. A motion to seize the seized property has been filed with the court.
Investigators served three members of the group suspicion notices under Part 3 of Article 28, Part 5 of Article 361 (Unauthorized interference with the work of information (automated), electronic communication, information and communication systems, electronic communication networks) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face up to 15 years in prison.
Currently, the police have filed a motion with the court to impose on the suspects a preventive measure in the form of detention.
Also, the version of cooperation of the suspects with agents of the aggressor country is being worked out, since the stolen accounts, in particular, were used to conduct IPSO in the interests of Russia.