The FBI thwarted the plans of a 27-year-old Russian national (Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov) to hire an employee of a companys in order to intercept classified data from the company he was working 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 persuade a company employee to install malware on the company's computer network via a USB drive or by using an email with a malicious attachment.
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.
