14 ms·
FSB arrests REvil ransomware gang members
- tlogan 5y agoI wonder what changed… they definitely did not try to hide. I bet they did something against Putin or refused to do something. And regarding extradition- if I’m in their shoes I will plead to be extradited to the US. The higher one is in politburo the deeper one’s grave is.
- kgeist 5y agoThere have been precedents, I wrote about it just yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29913881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29913881 Although not as high profile as REvil
- capableweb 5y ago> And regarding extradition- if I’m in their shoes I will plead to be extradited to the US. Where are you from? No one wants to be extradited to the US, not sure why these Russian people would be any different. Just look what happened to Manning. If you want to aim for a fair trial, you don't want to be extradited to the US.
- kgeist 5y agoHere in Russia, prison time is rarely more than 10 years, even for serious crimes like murder. Even terrorists sometimes get just 25 years. In the US on the other hand, it's not uncommon to hear that someone was sentenced to 400 years for some mere fraud. Also, they'd find themselves in a foreign, hostile environment.
- Muromec 5y agoThree or four, nobody important, necessarily, average men would do -- (someone at ФСБ few weeks before)
- dannyphantom 5y ago
- birdyrooster 5y agoI was surprised to see how poorly they lived given how much ransoming had been done. Truly living beneath their means.
- ThePadawan 5y agoMaybe they've seen Goodfellas ("oh look, this really poor person rumored to be a criminal suddenly got very very rich and is throwing their money around" is a great way to attract LE attention)
- srg0 5y agoI pity the guy who just paid a ransom 5 minutes before the raid. No bitcoins, and no data, and customer service is not available.
- easy_rider_2137 5y ago
- easy_rider_2137 5y ago
- bogota 5y agoSometimes you are downvoted here for having a different opinion. See any crypto thread. However in your case it’s because you added nothing to the discussion. If that is your preferred way of communicating reddit might be better for you.
- chmod775 5y ago> The raid comes after President Biden and US authorities have pressured Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly over the summer to crack down on the Russian underground cybercrime ecosystem, which harbors many of today’s top ransomware crews. Oof. After that call Putin must've forgot to tell the FSB to not lift a finger for a while, because you just know his American colleagues will jump at the chance to credit this to themselves. Predictably, it's happening.
- apstls 5y agoThese arrests would absolutely not have happened without US pressure.
- chmod775 5y agoReally? You think the same country that acts like this[1] gives a rat's ass about some criminals the US wants to see arrested? Can't wait for them to arrest Snowden next. [1] https://www.courthousenews.com/russia-us-talks-end-with-impasse-and-new-provocations/ https://www.courthousenews.com/russia-us-talks-end-with-impa...
- Tepix 5y agoHopefully we'll see an improvement in the relations between Russia and the West. It will be interesting to see how the (alledgedly mostly russian) ransomware industry fares after this new development.
- guerrilla 5y agoThat's never going to happen if Europe and Russia aren't allowed to integrate their economies further. Until they do, geography will dominate[1] and NATO and Russia will continue to press each other. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE6rSljTwdU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE6rSljTwdU
- jopsen 5y ago> if Europe and Russia aren't allowed to integrate their economies further. "allowed"? To a large extend Russian behavior scares the EU away.
- enkid 5y agoThe Russians are using their economic integration to try to get away with geopolitical shenanigans. The idea that deeper integration would stop this is ridiculous. Russia having more leverage would drag the EU into more conflict, it seems like.
- guerrilla 5y agoI think this is naive and ignores the long-term big picture [1]. Russia is being surrounded by NATO weaponry and having their former sphere of influence slowly peeled away from them and it also disregards the general geographic problem that I mentioned before. Until the interests are aligned, all of this will continue. The geopolitical is the core of what's going on here and unification is the only way to stop it [1]. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4
- PakG1 5y agoThe US tried aligning with China with opening up trade and economic integration to the point where entire supply chains were linked up, WTO membership was granted, etc. It turned out that none of that mattered for aligning non-economic interests.
- r721 5y agoVideo: https://twitter.com/campuscodi/status/1481989170876882944 https://twitter.com/campuscodi/status/1481989170876882944
- p1peridine 5y ago@1:20 guy is squatting while counting the money. https://reddit.com/r/slavs_squatting/ https://reddit.com/r/slavs_squatting/
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y agoHeels are on ground. Legit
- blinding-streak 5y agoDo police always film their raids? I doubt it. This almost seems like a TV show. My propaganda spidey sense is going off.
- smokey_circles 5y agoUh... bodycam footage is somehow different?
- nitwit005 5y agoIn this case there may have been a concern about cops wandering off with some of the cash. Note the effort to film finding and counting the money.
- ogurechny 5y agoYou are wrong about the filming (it is regularly done across the whole world, if only for the good publicity on TV screens), but your spidey sense might be correct. FYI, the Russian-language discussions are about whether the whole thing was staged, or only part of it. In other words, they could have actual contacts with protection, and share the money, or they could be observed silently, and maybe controlled through private talks with the leadership. So people try to guess whether members were prepared for the show arrest, or weren't. Mafia (legal or illegal) does not care about blockchains and exploits, mafia knows that money don't appear out of thin air. When there's a need to launder the money to have those piles of cash, the word of mouth reaches the relevant people. It's not about secret services or international cyber-mumbo-jumbo, it's first and foremost about the money.(Whoop-whoop, capitalism and free market!) Also, those kinds of relations don't go unnoticed. When there's a need to launder the money to have that expensive real estate in a Western country, the word of mouth reaches the relevant people. The dossier on hackers was not an offer, it was an ultimatum. “Either deal with them, or we are leaking the data on top government officials who benefit from hacking, and making lots of fuss and property seizures”. As they probably met with the same people whose data was supposed to be leaked, it had an effect. So there is very little “justice” going on, just the same old “the strong reigns over the weak”. How can other commenters rush to discuss cardboard games of “international politics” and to play with hand dolls of “US”, “Russia”, and “China” with such a childlike joy is a mystery to me. These things exist in media propaganda universe, they are not real.
- raverbashing 5y agoThat's an interesting timing given the bigger context. Sure, the right hand does not talk to the left hand most of times and there's a "separation of concerns", still, there might be something to it. Anyway, this is an important step in fighting cybercrime.
- ericbarrett 5y agoYes, this must surely be a concession or a "show of good faith" from the recent U.S.-Russia summit. From here, Russia (Putin) can either prosecute or release the members depending on how the talks go.
- denton-scratch 5y agoI agree. I think Putin and Biden may have come to an agreement similar to the one reached between JFK and Kruschev to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. You withdraw your missiles from Cuba now, and we'll withdraw missiles from Turkey - but in 6 months' time, so we don't lose face. So I suspect these arrests are a confidence-building measure. I predict that tensions will ease visibly in about 6 months.
- doitLP 5y ago> “Representatives of the competent US authorities were informed about the results of the operation,” the agency said. That’s a nice thing to say. Respect for your adversary, trolling or mistranslation?
- d_watt 5y agoCompetent Authority is a legal term referring to the agency/group that has authority in the given area.
- xwolfi 5y agoUnderstand "relevant".
- kingofpandora 5y agoWhat's trolling about that?
- _RPL5_ 5y agoA poor translation. From Russian wikipedia [1]: """ Competent authorities are executive authorities endowed with jurisdiction and power to perform any specific tasks (“competence” here means “the right to make decisions”). """ [1] https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5_%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8B https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5...
- whimsicalism 5y agoI am incredibly surprised that they would arrest a cybercrime gang largely targeting people outside of Eastern Europe. My impression was that such crime was tolerated as long as it wasn't directed inwards.
- q1w2 5y agoThere's no downside to arresting them. You seize their assets. You seize their talent and force them to work for the FSB. ...and you get to pretend to the world that you crack down on international hackers. It's only upside for Russia.
- scyzoryk_xyz 5y agoSee -> Ukraine/NATO situation and negotiations
- ianhawes 5y agoIt generally is, but you need to quell the flames from time to time. When it became a liability for Russia, likely from the high profile attacks over the past 12 months, you have to act. My guess is: - No one is extradited. - Sentences, if any, are minimal. - Whatever data collected by these guys is now in the hands of RU intelligence. - The smarter/competent ones are recruited. The raids are also interesting because you don't see the same flamboyance we saw from eastern European carders after their raids. Wheres the pet tiger? And the foreign sports cars? I'm curious if perhaps this was a raid on the lower level personnel. Or maybe this was completely staged and none of these people are associated with REvil at all.
- dbsmith83 5y ago> The raids are also interesting because you don't see the same flamboyance we saw from eastern European carders after their raids. Wheres the pet tiger? And the foreign sports cars? The article mentions: "Authorities said they seized more than 426 million rubles, $600,000, and €500,000 in cash, along with cryptocurrency wallets, computers, and 20 expensive cars." I doubt they were all lower-level personnel
- 323 5y ago> The FSB, which serves as Russia’s internal intelligence agency, said it conducted its operation at the request of US authorities This needs to be understood through the Ukraine/NATO crisis lens. Carrot and stick. Show that you can act both in a "good" or "bad" way.
- brotoss 5y agoElaborate?
- boringg 5y agoGood that they are cracking down on ransomware gangs; bad that they are looming over an invasion of ukraine.
- denton-scratch 5y agoThe US made an agreement under George HW Bush that they would not extend the boundaries of the NATO area beyond West(!) Germany. They now have troops in places bordering Russia, like Poland. It's not really surprising the Russians have tooled-up. And it's worth noting that the Russian troops are all still in Russia (apart from the troops in Crimea, and the surrogates in eastern Ukraine). I'm not for a moment trying to defend Russian bellicosity in Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea. I'm just noting that it's understandable, given repeated Western violations of promises and treaties. Treaties signed by the USA, in particular, might as well be used toilet-paper (ask Iran).
- denton-scratch 5y agoWow, first time I ever got a maximum -4 downvote (maybe many more). Maybe it was because of rude remarks about toilet-paper. Well, hands up - it was phrased provocatively. Sorry.
- boringg 5y agoI'm not making any opinion - I'm merely answering the question about what OP was referring to the confused question asker.
- shawnk 5y agoFake news. Show us some proof. Can’t trust words anymore
- Croftengea 5y agoThe funniest part: > charged with committing crimes under Part 2 of Art. 187 ‘Illegal circulation of means of payment’
- Joker_vD 5y agoThat article is about forging/counterfeiting cards/cheques/whatever that's not cash but can be used for payment, so... what is funny about that?
- Croftengea 5y agoIt's like arresting Al Capone for tax evasion.
- Joker_vD 5y agoI imagine it's just the immediately actionable(?) accusation: "as well as electronic means, electronic information carriers, technical devices, computer programs intended for illegal acceptance, issuance, transfer of funds" — most likely the "Extortion" will be thrown in later as well, but since those extorted are abroad... there may be some processual difficulties, getting the affidavits and all that.
- Croftengea 5y agoMakes sense, thanks
- qwertox 5y agoI wonder if this is related to "Ukraine: 'Massive cyber attack' shuts down government websites" [0] [1]. If this was Russia, then they would probably use the REvil "arrests" as a proof that they don't engage in Cyberwarfare, but rather help the world become a better place by cleaning up the Cyberspace. Edit: TBH, that Twitter video in the other comment looks pretty serious. [0] https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-says-massive-cyber-attack-has-shut-down-government-websites-12515487 https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-says-massive-cyber-attack... [1] https://therecord.media/hackers-deface-ukrainian-government-websites/ https://therecord.media/hackers-deface-ukrainian-government-...
- tigerBL00D 5y agoI don't understand why something like arresting criminals has to be immediately seen as part of some sinister scheme. What's wrong with "cleaning up the cyberspace" being exactly that?
- vhgyu75e6u 5y agoBecause it is know that Russia looks the other way when dealing with russian ransomware gangs (as long as they don't target Russian business) and it is curiously convinient that it happens now?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- weare138 5y agoOr they could just want the money... >Authorities said they seized more than 426 million rubles, $600,000, and €500,000 in cash, along with cryptocurrency wallets, computers, and 20 expensive cars.
- capableweb 5y agoI don't think anyone (including the Russians themselves) think this can be used as proof they don't engage in cyberwarfare. That's like saying that because the FBI (or whoever deals with cybercrime in the US) arrested some domestic hacking group on US soil, the NSA doesn't do any offensive hacking in other countries. No one would think that, so why should anyone think that of Russia?
- lordnacho 5y agoSo is is ARE-Evil, or is it REEvil? I've never heard it spoken by anyone, getting my news in written form these days.
- BTCOG 5y agoIt is REE-vil.
- 3np 5y agoNeither. It’s REvil.
- capableweb 5y agoNot sure why you're being downvoted, you're right! It's REvil, from "Ransomware Evil", bunch of different sources confirming this, too many to link. But Wikipedia keeps a good list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REvil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REvil
- loeg 5y agoGGP is asking about pronunciation, not spelling. Saying "it's REvil" does not help clarify pronunciation at all.
- 3np 5y agoIt's tounge-in-cheek but try out "revil" (that's like the e in "reverend", not in "evil")
- netmare 5y agoHa, so I was right in my adjacent comment. BTW, that's how I've also instinctively pronounced REvil in my head, too.
- netmare 5y agoPerhaps @lordnacho couldn't decide between ARE-Evil ('A@r-'i:v@L) and REEvil (r'i:v@L), so @3np suggested REvil (r'Ev'Il). J/k, I'm just showing off `eSpeak -x`'s output, which as a non-native English speaker I've found quite valuable on occasion.
- ushakov 5y agoseems like low level folks, the real hackers are sitting in moscow city towers
- throw7 5y ago"New recruits for GRU. Good." - Putin
- openasocket 5y agoFor those wondering if anyone is going to be extradited, they won't be. Under Russian law, a Russian citizen cannot be extradited to another country. As long as these people are Russian citizens they will remain in Russia.
- q1w2 5y agoThey're going to get a new job, working for the FSB.
- capableweb 5y agoWho was wondering if they are gonna be extradited? Why would they? Unless they are obviously American (which they obviously aren't), I don't see why anyone would expect or even wonder if they would be extradited.
- burrows 5y agoIf they extort citizens of some other country, then that other country’s officials will make some attempt to prosecute them in their legal system. You’re saying this expectation doesn’t match reality?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- pelasaco 5y agoThe question is: What happens with the whole amount of money seized by FSB?
- martythemaniak 5y agoWhat money?
- kingcharles 5y agoI think we can trust the President of Russia... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0hTrnaa8aE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0hTrnaa8aE
- FpUser 5y agoAsk PayPal
- siva7 5y agoWhat usually happens: it disappears
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jacquesm 5y agoThe FSB plays for keeps, I would not want to be in their shoes. Wonder what they did to piss off the Russian government, it would have to be something like that, as long as they are just ripping off Western Europe and the USA it seems that they were allowed to operate.
- bluGill 5y agoProbably the Russians got tired of US and European diplomats complaining. The squeaky wheel got some grease.
- scoopertrooper 5y agoI’d say this might be fig leaf from Russia to America to take some of the heat out of the last week.
- londons_explore 5y agoWe'll stop those cyberattacks as long as you let us have Ukraine. Deal?
- paulpauper 5y agonothing will happen to those arrested probably
- Trias11 5y agoThey missed their regular payment to Putin.
- BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 5y agoLikely about the same fate as WWII German Rocket Scientists - Keep doing the same work for a different boss.