A Canadian hacker is forfeiting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of Bitcoin (BTC) to the U.S. authorities whereas going through a multi-decade jail sentence.
In line with a brand new press launch from the Division of Justice (DOJ), 35-year-old Sebastian Vachon-Desjardins has been sentenced to twenty years in jail for his function within the NetWalker ransomware assaults and likewise ordered to relinquish $21.5 million price of the main digital asset.
Authorities allege that Vachon-Desjardins was the mastermind behind the NetWalker hacks, which focused victims all around the world by encrypting and exfiltrating data from Home windows-based programs and demanding a ransom of BTC in trade for the decryption of the information.
Among the many unhealthy actor’s victims had been corporations, municipalities, legislation enforcement companies, and training suppliers comparable to faculties, universities and college districts.
The hacker additionally particularly focused healthcare suppliers in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic to make the most of the troubling occasions to extort victims, in line with the press launch.
As said by Assistant Lawyer Basic Kenneth A. Well mannered, Jr. of the Justice Division’s Prison Division,
“The defendant recognized and attacked high-value ransomware victims and profited from the chaos attributable to encrypting and stealing the victims’ knowledge.
At the moment’s sentence demonstrates that ransomware actors will face important penalties for his or her crimes and exemplifies the Division’s steadfast dedication to pursuing actors who take part in ransomware schemes.”
On the time of his arrest in January 2021, authorities searched Vachon-Desjardins residence and seized roughly $544,000 and 719 BTC, price about $14.5 million at time of writing.
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