The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on May 23 that it seized cryptocurrencies worth over $24 million from a Russian citizen accused of developing and operating the Qakbot malware.
An unsealed federal indictment identifies Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov (48) from Moscow as the chief developer of Qakbot. Gallyamov now faces federal charges for allegedly leading a global cybercrime group that infected computers with malware and facilitated extensive ransomware attacks.
According to the Department of Justice, Gallyamov created and controlled the malware since 2008 and later used it to infect thousands of computers worldwide. These infected systems were subsequently used to build a botnet that became a platform for large-scale ransomware attacks.
Gallyamov is accused of providing access to this botnet to other cybercrime groups. These groups then deployed ransomware strains such as REvil, Conti, Black Basta, and Cactus. In return, Gallyamov allegedly received a share of the ransom.
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