Russian Hacker Indicted in Maryland for Federal Crimes
On June 27th, 2024, a federal grand jury in Maryland sentenced Amin Timovich Stigal, a known Russian hacker, to an indictment. According to the Department of Justice, Stigal worked with the Russian military’s cyber intelligence branch called the GRU. Currently, Stigal is at large, and the United States has offered up to $10 million in reward money for information about his whereabouts. Although, it is likely he has already fled the country.
Stigal is wanted for launching preemptive hacking attacks against the Ukrainian government prior to the beginning of the Ukraine Russia war in February 2022. He cooperated with the GRU and launched WisperGate malware against Ukrainian government facilities. WisperGate was used to “render targeted systems inoperable and destroy data” according to Stefanie Schappert from CyberNews. Schappert reports that over “70 government websites” were affected by WisperGate. Once a website was infected with WisperGate its contents would be replaced with “messages meant to instill fear among Ukrainians” (Schappert). These messages likely contained anything from hate speech, threats, lies, and much more.
WisperGate was detected in May of 2022 by “Microsoft Threat Intelligence researchers” (Schappert). During investigation it was found that months before the Ukrainian hacking campaign Stigal launched successful hacking attempts against a “federal government agency in Maryland” which led to his Maryland charges (Schappert). Stigal faces “up to 5 years” in jail according to Schappert. Personally, that seems like a small price to pay for the damage that WisperGate caused against Ukraine and the US as well.
Bizarrely, Stigal’s father, Tim Vakhaevich Stigal is wanted in New Jersey for “Conspiracy to Commit Computer Intrusion and Damage” (Schappert). Tim is wanted for credit card information theft and is also at large, likely to have also fled the country.
Hopefully, both men are brought to justice for the crimes and damage they have caused to both our Nation and Ukraine. If you have any information on either of these men, it is recommended to send a tip to the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice https://rewardsforjustice.net/ and maybe earn some of that $10 million reward money.
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Schappert, Stefanie “US indicts Russian for cyberattacks meant to destroy Ukraine before invasion” CyberNews, 27 June https://cybernews.com/news/russian-indicted-ukraine-cyberattacks-us-gov/