The FBI foiled the plans of a 27-year-old Russian national (Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov) to hire a company employee to intercept secrets data from the company that worked in Nevada.
He wanted to persuade him to install malware 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 the network computers of the company 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 leaking the stolen data her.
Finally Kriuchkov was charged with conspiracy and willful challenge damage to a protected company computer, facing a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250.000 fine.
