U.S. Sanctions First VPN Service and Malware Cryptor Seller Over Ransomware Support
Summary: The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated First VPN Service (1VPNS), its 45-year-old Ukrainian administrator Dmytro Rashevskyi, and Belarusian national Yegeniy Vladimirovich Silayev, who sold cryptors to disguise ransomware and other malware as safe programs. First VPN, operational since 2014 and dismantled in May 2026 in a joint European and North American law enforcement operation, was used by ransomware groups to hide their origins, deploy malware, and manage exfiltrated data, with victims including U.S. businesses, financial services companies, hospitals, and municipal governments.
Bottom line: U.S. officials said ransomware groups using services from the designated parties caused billions of dollars in losses to American businesses and critical infrastructure providers, and Rashevskyi used false identities including 'Maksim Sorin' and 'Roman Chabanenko' to buy infrastructure from companies that would otherwise have refused him over abuse complaints.
Read the original at The Hacker News ↗
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