Top Zeus Botnet Suspect “Tank” Arrested in Geneva
Summary: Vyacheslav "Tank" Penchukov, the accused 40-year-old Ukrainian leader of the JabberZeus Crew, was arrested in Geneva, Switzerland roughly three weeks before this report as he traveled to meet his wife, and Swiss authorities confirmed the Oct. 23, 2022 arrest and granted his extradition to the U.S. on Nov. 15, 2022. Penchukov was named in a 2014 DOJ indictment as day-to-day manager of a group that used a custom Zeus banking trojan to steal tens of millions of dollars from small and mid-sized businesses in the U.S. and Europe, pioneering man-in-the-browser attacks and payroll money-mule schemes.
Why it matters: The group's success rested on recruiting money mules through work-at-home schemes and inserting them into victim payrolls, and Penchukov evaded Ukrainian prosecution for years partly through a political connection: the late son of former President Viktor Yanukovych was godfather to his daughter, and sources said a tip let him destroy evidence before 2010 SBU raids.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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