OFAC has included the Russian company Aeza Group, a provider of Bulletproof global hosting services, in the sanctions list, accusing it of supporting cybercriminal activities.
According to the agency, the company with its headquarters in St. Petersburg sells access to specialized servers and other computer infrastructure used by ransomware operators, data thieves, and drug traffickers worldwide.
In particular, a connection has been established between Aeza Group and the operators of the information thieves Meduza and Lumma, who are behind attacks on American defense industrial bases and technology companies. Additionally, the company provided infrastructure for the BianLian ransomware, the RedLine info stealer panel, and the BlackSprut darknet marketplace.
Countermeasures affected three affiliated companies:
Aeza International Ltd. is a subsidiary of Aeza Group in the United Kingdom;
Aeza Logistic LLC and Cloud Solutions LLC are subsidiaries based in Russia and 100% owned by Aeza Group.
The blacklist included co-owners of Aeza Group (each holding 33% of the shares) — Arseniy Penzyev, Yuri Bozoyan, and Igor Knyazev, as well as the technical director Vladimir Gast. Penzyev and Bozoyan have been arrested in Russia for facilitating the operation of BlackSprut.
All assets and equity holdings of the listed companies and individuals in the United States have been blocked. American citizens are prohibited from doing business with them.
Recall that in February, the Russian hosting provider Zservers was sanctioned for facilitating the LockBit ransomware group.
In early March, OFAC added 44 bitcoin wallets and five Monero addresses associated with the closed darknet marketplace Nemesis Market to the SDN list.
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