Sept. 9 (UPI) -- An alleged Ukrainian ransomware hacker's indictment in New York was unsealed Tuesday, while the U.S. Department of State offered up to $11 million in rewards for information leading to his arrest and the arrests of his associates.
Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, also known as "deadforz," "Boba," "msfv" and "farnetwork," is a Ukrainian national accused of several ransomware schemes around the world, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, said Tuesday.
"Tymoshchuk is a serial ransomware criminal who targeted blue-chip American companies, healthcare institutions, and large foreign industrial firms, and threatened to leak their sensitive data online if they refused to pay," said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement. "For a time, the defendant stayed ahead of law enforcement by deploying new strains of malicious software when his old ones were decrypted. Today's charges reflect international coordination to unmask and charge a dangerous and pervasive ransomware actor who can no longer remain anonymous."
The Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced a reward offer of up to $10 million under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest or conviction, in any country, of Tymoshchuk.
