A Russian cryptocurrency money launderer pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court, tying off a conspiracy in which he and his partners laundered the proceeds of the Ryuk ransomware from 2018 to 2021.
Dubnikov and his co-conspirators laundered no less than US$70 million in ransom proceeds. (Photo: MichaelWuensch, Pixabay, License)Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov, 30, pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds of malware attacks, in which his group would encrypt the data on their victims’ computers, rendering them inaccessible until a ransom was paid in the form of cryptocurrency.
Although now no longer widely used, Ryuk is described by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as a particularly potent malware, which can “shut down or uninstall security applications on the victim systems that might prevent the ransomware from executing.”
Ryuk can also attack storage devices connected to the targeted computer, regardless if they are linked physically or remotely via a network connection.
According to the indictment against Dubnikov, he and his band, comprised of 13 other…