Transcripts For CSPAN Justice Department Briefing On Russian Hacker Bank Fraud 20240713

In the United States, called two of the worst schemes of the decade. Here is more from the justice department. Good morning. Thank you for being here. We are here to identify and announced charges against a Russian National who the department of justice alleges is responsible for two of the worst computer hacking and Bank Fraud Schemes of the last decade. The charges we are announcing are merely allegations and each of the defendants is presumed innocent until Proven Guilty in a court of law. Moscow has been indicted in pittsburgh, pennsylvania for his alleged draw all as the leader of a cyber criminal gang responsible for the distribution of a multifunction malware package. It was designed to automate the theft of confidential personal information and Financial Information such as Online Banking credentials from infected computers. Later versions of the malware were designed with the added function of assisting in the installation of ransomware. Over the past decade, the malware facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from victims, some of which occurred as recently as may of this year. Was alsococonspirator indicted in pittsburgh in connection with the scheme. The first was also charged in a criminal complaint in lincoln, nebraska, for his scheme to disseminate zeus, a similar form of malware likely used to empty out the accounts of its victims. According to the complaint, the deployment of zeus resulted in a total attempted theft of 220 million, with losses of an estimated 70 million from victims Bank Accounts. . True 21ste is a century criminal who has committed crimes across the globe. He has earned his place on the fbis list of the worlds most wanted cyber criminals. To that our colleagues from the state department will have an announcement that will further our collective efforts to bring him to justice. A little bit of detail about the malware deployed. Both forms of the malware intercept passwords and other private information used to conduct wire transfers. The malware that initiates wire transfers from Foreign Bank Accounts controlled by the criminals. Areuse many of the victims small and midsize businesses, their accounts typically do not have the same Legal Protections afforded to consumer accounts. They did not discriminate in their choice of targets. Allegeska complaint yakubets was involved in a theft from franciscan sisters. He devised and implemented the kind of criminal scheme so audacious and sophisticated they would be difficult to imagine if they were not real. Sitting quietly at good sumer a computer terminals far away, these cyber criminals stole tens of millions of dollars from unwitting members of our business, nonprofit, governmental, and religious communities. Each of these was a cyber enabled bank robbery. We take crimes like this extremely seriously and will do everything in our power to hold these criminals accountable for their crimes. The justice department, federal prosecutors, and for Law Enforcement authorities and number of jurisdictions all Work Together to unmask yakubets and his coconspirators. The assistance by private sector partners was also invaluable. I want to thank our foreign Law Enforcement partners who are onstage today from the u. K. The National Crime agency and the metropolitan Police Service conducted their own investigation into the harms the caused tougat viruses u. K. Victims. These also provided invaluable assistance to the United States as well. The u. K. Indicted two of yakubets coconspirators to the United States to face justice. He has been engaged in cyber crime on and on a decade. Our goal is to identify the perpetrators of these crimes in rapid fashion. The reality of Law Enforcement work is a quick resolution of these cases cannot always happen. Make no mistake. We will pursue cyber criminals and we can bring them to justice. Todays announcement should make clear for those engaged in cybercrime that we will identify you, we will unmask you, and we will prosecute you no matter how much effort it requires or how long it might take. You will never have safe haven from the efforts of the United States Law Enforcement and our International Partners to bring you to justice. I want to thank the United States Attorneys Office from the Western District of pennsylvania, the United States Attorneys Office from the district of nebraska, the fbi, the state department, and the uks National Crime agency and metropolitan Police Service, all of which are represented behind me by individuals and leaders of those institutions. With that i would like to turn it over to scott brady of the Western District of pennsylvania to make some remarks. You, brian. Good morning. Today weve announced an indictment out of the Western District of pennsylvania against two of the most prolific cyber criminals in the world. And igorkubets turashev. Yakubets is the leader of the bugat conspiracy. He oversees did the development and infection of mad what of malware. Is a close associate of yakubets and serves as the system administrator, has oversight over botnets and manages internal systems used by the criminal group. Together these two criminals have victimized our district and the world at large. Some of the victims include a school district, two banking institutions, a number of businesses including a petroleum business, technology company, a manufacturing company, and a Building Material supply company. Malware conspiracy was a constantly evolving and adapting criminal enterprise that has a level of sophistication and a scope of threat we rarely see. This conspiracy was marked by constant innovation. Even as we disrupt the jabber conspiracy, we prosecuted one of the system , we haveators in 2015 seen cold bought networks and indicted a belarus Money Network in 2016. In spite of all of these efforts by Law Enforcement, they continue to adapt and innovate. They went from centralized command and control systems to peer to peer botnets. They used more sophisticated web injects. They increase their use of encryption and enhanced security methods and they change from the use of International Wire transfers to ransomware and cryptocurrency to private accounts. This is why this has been the most widespread and destructive malware and banking trojan in the world over the last decade. I want to say a quick word about the victims. At the department of justice, we are charged with enforcing the laws of the United States and seeking justice. Our calling is to protect our fellow citizens and our friends and our neighbors. The First Western pennsylvania victim was sharon high school. Sharon, pennsylvania is a small town and i family members who have graduated from sharon. We know for every dollar stolen from a school district, that is one less dollar they have for the High School Football team or the Girls Basketball team. One less dollar for teacher salaries or special education. For every dollar stolen from an individual, that is one less dollar they have for their retirement, one less dollar they have for their childrens education or for a family vacation. For every dollar stolen from a company, that is one less dollar to innovate, to create new products, to enter new markets, or to hire those same friends and neighbors. This is why we go to the ends of the earth to investigate and prosecute cyber criminals. These are the cyber criminals who victimize our citizens and we will pursue them and we will prosecute them, whether these criminals are in pittsburgh, pennsylvania or in minsc or moscow. I would like to echo our International Partners and especially recognize for the western pennsylvania indictment the outstanding work of the and thet u. S. Attorney work of the best cyber group and the fbi in the field office of pittsburgh. Now we will hear from joe kelly, the u. S. Attorney from nebraska. You. Ank in the district of nebraska, the complaint against yakubets and his coconspirators refers to three different nebraska Bank Accounts belonging to small emphasize that is just the nebraska aspect for the victims. Conspiracy is much broader than that and into other states. As to those three number ask you intended victims, two were those threes to nebraska intended victims, two were averted. 159,000 a loss of were regard to the third just in the state of nebraska. , the actualsaid losses to all victims in the various states is estimated at nearly 70 million. The methodology was similar each time. In fact the business computer, obtain Bank Account Numbers and security codes, and initiate Electronic Fund transfers to money mules overseas. We appreciate the hard work in the intelligent approach to this investigation by all of the justice department, u. S. Law enforcement agencies, and their partners around the world. I want to recognize the Important Role played by the omaha fbi office in this investigation from its inception. This is a great example of the ongoing teamwork of Law Enforcement and the international community, and clearly demonstrates the resolve to hold these criminals accountable. Casesomeone hears about a like this, very often the First Response is there is nothing you can do about these. Today we are here to demonstrate we can and will. Good morning. Chargednow, the fbi is with defending United States citizens and businesses against a wide range of cyber crimes. We face Cyber Threats from hackers for higher, organized criminal syndicates, and overseas adversaries like the individuals indicted today. Announcement, we are launching a wideranging disruption operation targeting yakubets and his group of coconspirators. ,ver a 10 year period, yakubets also known as aqua, have conspired and approved multiple malware variants to go after as many as possible and theyve enrich themselves through theft, fraud, and deceit. They spread their malware through fishing email spam campaigns. They cause losses in excess of tens of millions of dollars of attempted theft ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These malware variants affected thousands of american victims. They included a Dairy Company in ohio to a luggage store in new mexico, and even an order of religious sisters as the assistant attorney previously. I want to emphasize a few key points that cases like this demonstrate. First, they show the evolution of cyber criminals and their capabilities over the past several years and how persistent the cyber criminals are. In this case, we have individuals and groups using different tools, tactics, and techniques over time. They adapted them to evolve their scams. Second, these cases show cyber criminals have banded together. They are leveraging each others strengths and forming organized criminal syndicates to more effectively victimize our public. This brings me to the third point. To successfully combat them, we must do the same. We must come together, partner closely, and leverage each others strengths. We much we must integrate and innovate to combat the cyber criminals globally. That is what we have done here. The fbi would also like to thank its partners from the department of justice, the department of state, the treasury department, and the u. K. National crime agency. Strong national and International Partnerships are important to the cyber investigations. As we have often said publicly, cyber criminals disregard borders, be they states or countries. This often requires an International Response like the one you are seeing today. , the fbise of yakubets has worked handinhand in sharing investigative information and intelligence information for a decade. Why nearly a decade . These cases are incredibly complex and the networks that perpetrate them are complex and sometimes global. These are sophisticated cyber criminals operating complex variance, so investigations of this type take time. Todays announcement demonstrates our resolve to bring cyber criminals and their activities to light. Because these criminals are in russia, some may ask pursue them. You may never get your hands on them. It is difficult, no doubt, but it is not impossible, as we have shown time and again over the past years. The long arm of the law, and i do like the term, it stretch throughout the world. Having your name, your face, your description on a wanted poster makes moving around freely much more difficult. ,e are going to keep at it because collectively the fbi and our partners have a long memory and we will never give up. We have a track record of success when it comes to catching cyber criminals throughout the globe. Simply naming them in an indictment accomplishes a great deal. We know that through many methods. Clientsonsors and other prize hackers for their anonymity. Deniability, and their stealth. Calling these actors out publicly through these indictments strips away the anonymity. Other parts of our government can use the information developed through our investigation to impose additional costs like financial sanctions or revoking the ability to travel. Finally, a charging document is a key step in achieving justice from the victims. We cannot have gotten this far in our case without the cooperation of the victims. I think sometimes we think about financial impact. That is significant. We also have to remember there are people hide the financial impact. We understand companies and institutions are under immense pressure during and after cyber attacks. They may be reluctant to report these breaches, but we urge all victims to contact their local field office, their local Fbi Field Office as soon as possible once they realize theyve been hacked. We encourage our victims to file a detailed report with the Fbis Internet Crime Complaint Center gov. Ww. Ic3. The fbi may be able to provide Additional Information to help before or after an attack. You can help us fight these attacks. We all need to do our part to make sure our systems are as secure as possible. Fors no guarantee guidance and information on improving your cyber hygiene and the security of your systems, please visit www. Ic3. Gov. We have to do whatever we can to lay hands on these criminals to deter others from joining them. I do want to not only thank our partners, but i would like to thank the efforts of our agents and our analysts from the fbi, certainly our partners who have worked very hard. My own people, we appreciate your diligence. These cases are difficult. They are tedious and they are technical and they require tenacity and resolve. Thank you. The efforts to bring Maksim Yakubets to justice is a high priority for the United States and the state department is proud to be part of this effort. The fact that our agencies in the United Kingdom are represented today underscores how closely we Work Together. We bring unique tools and authorities of our respective agencies to bear against a transnational criminals and Transnational Criminal Organizations that threaten American Interest in our people. There is one particular state department tool we are applying today. That is the transnational organized crime awards program. Through this program, we are pleased to announce a reward of up to 5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of russian cyber criminal yakubets. Cost,ering the staggering cyber crimes are Significant National Security Threat to the United States. Transnational organized crime awards department is one of the tools the state department uses to bring cyber criminals to justice. As my counterparts have stated, todays action is one step two sure cyber criminals like yakubets cannot hide from justice. We will continue working together to protect americans from these threats. Now i would like to turn it over to our u. K. Colleagues from the National Crime agency, robert jones. Thank you and thank you to colleagues from the United States for inviting me here to talk about this investigation, which is a landmark in the nca and tackling cyber crime. There is a long story that sits behind what you see today and im pleased to see the true identity of aqua being unveiled and people held to account for their actions. This is the start of us beginning to deal with the harm caused by these individuals in the story that sits behind this goes back many years. While we have been trying to degrade the threat posed by the organization weve been investigating, we have already succeeded in convicting eight individuals and over 40 years worth of prison sentences have been delivered. We see the real harm caused to victims in the u. K. By groups like this. That manifests itself with realworld victims. As colleagues have already described, behind these sophisticated attacks and behind the cynical online monikers people used to disguise their identity, there is realworld harm where peoples life savings , Peoples Companies are being compromised by these individuals. We estimate at least 300 different organizations in 43 countries have been affected by these attacks, and that will be an underestimate. We think there are tens of millions of dollars which have been recognized by this organized crime. We have tried to draw down through financial institutions. The fundamental weakness organized crime has is they are driven by money and greed. We have been able to gain evidence in the u. K. Of a realworld footprint of people seeking to draw down the funds and also people who are exhibiting an extravagant lifestyle online. There is a rich irony in the story you will see over the coming days where many of the individuals who we believe are involved in this activity who have exploited the online vulnerability to leave the online vulnerability and you can around the world have themselves showed vulnerability online. By exploiting that vulnerability and seeking evidence over many years and meticulously pieced together a trail of breadcrumbs which leads you back to realworld identities. That has shown some of these people have made significant mistakes online and it is through those mistakes and exploiting those mistakes that we have evidence which we have been able to share with colleagues which has allowed a range of options to be delivered by our colleagues in the u. S. I am proud to be sitting alongside an agency with the heritage of the fbi and delivering this sort of briefing to you all. This is a multiagency effort. It involves numerous departments in the u. S. , it involves numerous departments in the u. K. , and i would like to pay tribute to the efforts of the metropolitan police, National Cybersecurity sector, and others who have stuck with this long game for many years. I would also like to commend the small team in the u. K. Who i know will be watching this and the efforts they have made. There is a fundamental point around cybercrime and tackling the harm called by cybercrime where many will say as colleagues have already pointed out, youre wasting your time trying to rest people, youre wasting your time trying to deliver evidence about who is behind these events. That is wrong. We will extend our reach. We have a lot of memory, and we will relentlessly pursue individuals online until we identify their identity, and still we get a reward, then we will take the best route to bring them to justice. Thank you. Any questions . Can you describe a little more of the campaign youve mentioned to disrupt these networks Going Forward . Mentioned wasn i a spearfishing campaign. The fbi is now taking steps to degrade this network . Is that right . What i will tell you is back to the no borders issue. We continue to evolve our Cyber Crimes Program to attack these folks wherever they are. The fact that the National Crime agency is here and we have such a Good Partnership with them, and they work so hard and so well together in conjunction with u. S. Law enforcement and u. S. Prosecutors, it is amazing the indictment you are seeing. I would refer you to the charting instruments put forth today. You can learn a lot from these charging instruments. The general public as well. You mentioned there were tangential members with connections to the russian government. How extensive are those connections . The russian government profit from any of this illgotten money . I would refer you to the charging document. Based on what you have done today, have you put these people out of business or they still capable of striking other victims . That is a great question. The short answer is one of the reasons why we did this is to raise awareness for potential additional victims. We have victims as recent as may of this year who were victimized by this malware. They arer to say that not out of business at this point. That is our ultimate goal. Will they ever get their money back . There is a forfeiture complaint in the pittsburgh complaint. Our aim is to follow the money wherever we can. How successful we are able to be, time will tell. Is there anything they can do to protect themselves . Yes, that i want to clean up my answer to your question a little bit. First of all, back to the basics. Change your password, two factor authentication, something you should have and something you should know is the best way to explain two factor authentication. Change your password, make them challenging and difficult. Make sure you are aware of them, and do not click on certain links unless you know the source. That is where people are getting caught time and time again, both in their personal business but also the actual companies. This is occurring on a regular basis. To the attachments that draw people in and make them want to click the attachment, is there any standard methodology . They have evolved it and i would not say there is any significant commonality. Look for legitimate before you click, think hard. That is the best advice i can give to people on that. I want to come back to your question on connections to the russian government. Right now, we are here to focus on what is in the four corners of this document. When was last time Law Enforcement saw these two men moving online . Yakubets provides direct assistance to the russian government was he involved in the russian interference efforts in the u. S. President ial election . I will refer you again to the charging document and allow the treasury announcement to stand on its own. Speaking of the complaint, there is a reference to a Washington Post story about one of these victims and a long series of conversations among alleged conspirators talking about that story. I am curious, what is the evidence value of having these people say there is a story about us, i guess we are in trouble . I know what youre talking about. For a better answer, i will refer that to one of the u. S. Attorneys. In the process of monitoring these two, can you tell us anything about their lifestyle . You say they have become wealthy in the process. What can you tell us in terms of what you know about them and what they have been doing with the cash . We have been able to identify an Online Presence for these individuals and we have been releasing material in relation to that which gives you a good pencil trace of their behavior and the lifestyle they lead. Cash rich, fast cars, behaving and acting like flamboyant and extravagant millionaires. , so quiteuite bold obvious in terms of living the life of rich men in russia. You may say that. Let me verify some of the figures from earlier. Victimse there are 300 it is much more than 300 victims. Some of the victims are organizations, summer individuals, so there would be thousands of individuals thousands of victims. The estimate is a low estimate of around 300 organizations in 43 countries where this has had an impact. You have a total dollar value of what they have gotten . I cannot say for certain but it would be hundreds of millions worldwide. People in the u. K. And four years worth of prison sentences delivered already. The Senate Minority a statement where he was told by the fbi that new facial recognition software, which is a fun game, a russian developer where you can look yourself where you can make yourself look older or younger may be a fishing expedition. Is that in any way related to what these two are doing . A nonanswerve you because im not familiar with that. I can get back to you. Question for the u. S. Attorney. Was cooperating, can you talk about whether the cooperation led to the indictment today . I cannot talk about that. You mentioned a number of these activities that were averted. How are they averted . Recognize theyim were about to be victimized . Without going beyond what is in the indictment, there is an ongoing collaboration and partnership between the public and private sectors. There is a constant flow of information. Threats,re aware of either the Public Sector or the private sector, we are sharing that information in real time so they have the information they need and a timely way to combat it. Russianyour counterparts been cooperating with his investigation . The russian government did provide a response to a mutual Legal Assistance treaty request. That wasresponse helpful in the investigation to a point. To a point. I want to come back and i want to more holistically answer your question about the conversation regarding the Washington Post article. The lesson you learned from that is an indictment that is public, a complaint and good reporting unmasks these folks and they do watch from afar. I think once again, it demonstrates why important. As you saw from the conversation, they did not like that they were is there more detail about the russian government . Is this at the state department level, Law Enforcement channels . Im not going into any more details. Some of you mentioned they were responsible for that unit. I know there were thousands of peoples victimized people victimized in the u. S. I do not know the actual number, though. Thank you very much. Thank you. Announcer as House Democrats along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi begin drafting articles of impeachment on President Trump and ukraine, the house judiciary reading meets today on evidence, with democratic and republican counsel presenting findings from the impeachment inquiry. Watch online on cspan, cspan. Org, or listen at the cspan radio app. On tuesday, President Trump heads to pennsylvania for a Keep America Great Campaign rally in hershey. We will have that live at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. The house will be in order. Announcer for 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. , and around the country so you can make up your own mind, treating by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan your unfiltered view