Justice Department announces charges, $5 million reward for Russian hackers
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Department of Justice announced Thursday that Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev have been charged with causing tens of millions of dollars in damages stemming from their use of the "Bugat" malware. Neither has been arrested.
Why it matters: Bugat (also frequently called dridex) was one of the most successful theft operations of its type, stealing usernames and passwords from infected computers as they attempted to log on to bank websites. The State Department and FBI are offering $5 million for information that would lead to their arrest, the largest reward offer for a cyber criminal to date.
Driving the news: A Pittsburgh grand jury indicted the pair, also charging Yakubets for his role in an earlier string of thefts using the similarly successful Zeus malware, for which alleged co-conspirators Yuriy Konovaleko and Yevhen Kulibaba have already pleaded guilty.
Go deeper: Read the indictment
