U.S. prosecutors have charged three Russian nationals and two web hosts with hacking, conspiracy, and money laundering over their alleged roles in hosting cyberattacks that caused tens of millions of dollars in damages to U.S. businesses.
The three Russians, Alexander Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin, and Yulia Pankova, who reside in St. Petersburg, are accused of owning and running two web hosts, Media Land and ML.Cloud, which allegedly provided criminals and state-backed hackers with web hosting and infrastructure support for carrying out cyberattacks.
The Russians were first charged in 2024, but the indictment was unsealed this week. The U.S. Treasury previously sanctioned Medialand and ML.Cloud for allowing ransomware gangs, including LockBit, BlackSuit, and Play, to use their infrastructure. Economic sanctions bar Americans and U.S. businesses from transacting with the Russians or their companies.
Prosecutors said that hackers used the web hosts to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks designed to knock websites and services offline, launch phishing attacks, and carry out cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States.
Hackers used the companies to launch attacks on dozens of U.S. businesses across more than 20 states, netting some $62 million in proceeds from cybercrime.
