Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020 | 3:11 p.m.
A Russian man flew to Northern Nevada this summer tooffer an acquaintance $1 million to help hack into their employer’s computer, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov and unidentified co-conspirators intended to steal data and seek a ransom to prevent its release, federal prosecutors said.
Kriuchkow, 27, was arrested Saturday in Los Angeles on one count of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer, officials said.
Authorities didn’t identify the targeted company.
According to a complaint and statements made in court, from about July 15 to about Aug. 22, Kriuchkov conspired with associates to recruit an employee of a company to introduce malware into the company’s computer network.
The malware would supposedly provide Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators with access to the company’s system, officials said.
After the malware was introduced, Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators would extract data from the network and threaten to make it public unless the company paid their ransom demand, officials said.
Kriuchkov contacted and met with the employee numerous times to discuss the conspiracy, officials said. He promised to pay the employee $1 million after the malware was introduced, officials said.
FBI Agents eventually contacted Kriuchkov and asked him to meet them in Los Angeles, officials said.
Before his arrest, he asked an acquaintance to buy a plane ticket in an effort to fly out of the U.S., officials said.
At a court hearing in Los Angeles on Monday, Kriuchkov was ordered held until trial. He faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
In a statement, Nicholas Trutanich, U.S. Attorney for the district of Nevada, said his office would “continue to prioritize protecting trade secrets and other confidential information belonging to U.S. businesses.”
In this case, the FBI was able to intervene before any damage could occur, Nevada Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said.
