7/27/2019 Russian Hackers Charged in ‘Biggest’ Data Breach Case, 160 Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen

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Russian Hackers Charged in ‘Biggest’ Data Breach Case, 160

Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen 

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an for stealing more than 160 million credit card numbers, which the prosecution says has resulted

in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for major corporations worldwide.

The five have been charged with running a sophisticated hacking organization that penetrated

computer networks of more than a dozen major American and international corporations over seven

years.

As the indictments were announced on Thursday in Newark, N.J., a local US attorney c alled it “the

largest hacking and data breach scheme ever prosecuted in the United States.”

The so-called “dumps” acquired by the hackers amounted to more than 160 million credit and debit

card numbers, attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement. According to indictments, the group was

selling stolen data to “dumps resellers,” who in turn offered them to individuals and organizations,

 partly by means of online forums.

The end- point individuals referred to as “the cashers” used the information by encoding it into

 blank plastic cards, and then cashed out the value. While in the case of debit cards they directly

withdrew money from ATMs, credit card 'duplicates' were used for running up charges and

7/27/2019 Russian Hackers Charged in ‘Biggest’ Data Breach Case, 160 Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen

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 purchasing goods.

“Financial institutions, credit card com panies and consumers suffered hundreds of millions in losses,

including losses in excess of $300 million by just three of the corporate victims, and immeasurable

losses to identity theft victims,” the indictment said. The companies targeted included the NASDAQ, Visa Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Heartland Payment Systems Inc., the Belgium bank Dexia

Bank Belgium, as well as Carrefour SA (CA), France‟s biggest retailer.

The defendants in the case are Russian nationals Vladimir Drinkman, a businessman from Moscow

and Syktyvkar (northern Russia), Aleksandr Kalinin of St. Petersburg, Roman Kotov of Moscow

and Dmitry Smilianets, „Moscow Five‟ cybersport project head, along with Ukrainian MikhailRytikov of Odessa.

Drinkman and Kalinin were identified as sophisticated hackers, who penetrated networks of 

companies, banks and payment processors, while Kotov is said to have been harvesting the hacked

data, with Rytikov providing anonymous web-hosting services for the operation.

Smilianets was the information salesman of the group, the American prosecution said.

All five have been charged with taking part in a computer hacking conspiracy and conspiracy to

commit wire fraud, while four Russian members of the group have also been charged with multiple

counts of unauthorized computer access and wire fraud.

Unindicted co-conspirators in the case have also been declared in court, including Albert Gonzalezof Miami, who was sentenced for 20 years in prison in 2010 on the charges of stealing many

millions of credit and debit card records. The prosecution has built on the case of Gonzalez, who is

serving two concurrent sentences for targeting the above companies, as well as some regional

retailers.