Cyber police catch hacker in Kyiv who helped Russians attack European companies

Cyberpolice detained a hacker in Kyiv who created crypto-currencies for Russian money — special software for disguising computer viruses as safe files.

At the end of 2021, members of the Russian group infected computer networks of an enterprise in the Netherlands and Belgium using the created cryptors. As a result, they became unusable, and the hackers demanded a ransom to decrypt the computers.

In the course of the investigation, cyberpolice officers established the offender’s involvement in the Russian hacker groups «LockBit» and «Conti». They specialize in blocking the work of industrial enterprises by encrypting computer networks for ransom.

• As part of the pre-trial investigation, police officers together with patrol officers of the special unit «TacTeam» of the TOR PPP battalion conducted a search in Kyiv.
• Also, following an international request from the Dutch law enforcement agencies, a search was conducted in Kharkiv region.
• Computer equipment, mobile phones and draft records were seized.

It is reported that the investigation is currently ongoing, and the issue of serving a notice of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is being decided. The sanction of the article provides for up to 15 years in prison. Additional legal qualification is possible.