The FBI foiled plans by a 27-year-old Russian national (Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov) to hire a company employee to steal confidential information from a Nevada-based company.
She wanted to convince him to settle down malicious software on their network, and then demand ransom from the company under the threat of leaking data that had been stolen from their systems.
Kriuchkov was arrested on August 22, 2020, in Los Angeles, after receiving a phone call from an FBI agent and trying to leave the United States.
"After contacting the FBI, Kriuchkov traveled the same night from Reno to Los Angeles," a Justice Department press release said. Kriuchkov asked an acquaintance to buy him a plane ticket in an attempt to leave the country.'
According to court documents, Kriuchkov tried to convince a company employee to install malware on network company computers via a USB drive or using an email with a malicious attachment.
The malware would then give Kriuchkov and his associates access to the company's systems, allowing them to collect and steal sensitive documents, which could later be used as leverage to get the company to pay a ransom to avoid leakage of her stolen data.
Finally, Kriuchkov was charged with conspiracy and willful damage to a protected company computer, facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison and fine 250.000 dollars.
