A Ukrainian national has been apprehended by Swiss authorities over allegations of connections with a cyber criminal group that stole millions of dollars from bank accounts leveraging the Zeus malware. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly been after the cybercriminal group for over a decade. The individual, Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, was arrested in Geneva in late October and is now pending extradition to the US. Penchukov is the first individual named in a 2012 indictment by the US Department of Justice, accompanied by Ivan Viktorvich Klepikov and Alexey Dmitrievich Bron. The Ukranian nationals are known to have involvement with the JabberZeus Crew.
The indictment alleges that the Zeus malware was deployed onto victims’ devices to capture passwords, account numbers, and other information necessary to hack into online banking accounts. The court document stated that the conspirators allegedly used the information captured by the malware to steal millions of dollars from victims’ bank accounts. Two other individuals of JabberZeus were arrested in 2014 and subsequently sentenced to two years and ten months of incarcerations. All of the participants are accused of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and identity theft.
