A US court sentenced Russian Koshkin to 4 years in prison for cybercrimes

A US court sentenced 41-year-old Russian Oleg Koshkin to 4 years in prison for cybercrimes. this The US Department of Justice reports .

In June, a jury found Koshkin guilty of conspiracy and computer fraud.

malware According to the Justice Department, a Russian created an encryption service that was used to hide the Kelihos , which allowed hackers to infect hundreds of thousands of computers around the world with viruses.

According to court documents, Koshkin operated the sites crypt4u.com , fud.bz and others. On them, he promised to create malware that would be completely undetectable by all major antiviruses. The Russian and his accomplices claimed that his programs could be used for Trojan horses, identity theft and cryptocurrency mining.

“Koshkin’s unscrupulous sites provided cybercriminals with a vital service, allowing them to hide their malware from antivirus programs and use it to infect thousands of computers around the world,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard Boyle.

As the Ministry of Justice notes, Koshkin worked with Pyotr Levashov, the operator of the Kelihos botnet , who in 2018 pleaded guilty to computer crimes and theft of personal data. Kelihos was used for spamming and identity theft.

Koshkin was detained in 2019 in California and has been in custody since then.