U.S. indicts 2 men behind major ransomware attacks

The Justice Department says authorities have indicted two men in connection with a wave of ransomware attacks that, among other targets, shut down a meat processing company and an internet software provider earlier this year.

Attorney General Merrick Garland says one of the men, Yaroslav Vasinskyi, 22, a Ukrainian, was arrested when he traveled to Poland. The second man was identified as Yevgeniy Polyanin, a 28-year-old Russian. Garrick says the U.S. seized some $6.1 million from Polyanin.

Both men are said to be behind the REvil ransomware attacks that encrypt the data of companies and demand payments to unblock them.

Polyanin is believed to be abroad, the department says.

Garland asserted that the "U.S. government will continue to aggressively pursue the entire ransom ware ecosystem and increase our nations resilience to cyber threats."

The Justice Department says that Vasinskyi was allegedly responsible for the July 2 ransomware attack against Kaseya, "which resulted in the encryption of data on computers of organizations around the world that used Kaseya software."

It says that Vasinskyi and Polyanin are charged in separate indictments with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, substantive counts of damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted of all counts, each faces a maximum penalty of 115 and 145 years in prison, respectively.

The State Department, meanwhile, announced it is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of "any individual holding a key leadership position" in the REvil ransomware organized crime group, also known as Sodinokibi. It is offering a $5 million reward for information "leading to the arrest and/or conviction in any country of any individual conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in a Sodinokibi variant ransomware incident." [Copyright 2021 NPR]