Security News > 2021 > May > Bulletproof hosting admins plead guilty to running cybercrime safe haven
Four individuals from Eastern Europe face 20 years in prison for Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization charges after pleading guilty to running a bulletproof hosting service as a safe haven for cybercrime operations targeting US entities.
The bulletproof hosting service was founded by Russian citizens Aleksandr Grichishkin and Andrei Skvortsov, who hired Lithuanian Aleksandr Skorodumov and Estonian Pavel Stassi as the organization's system admin and administrator, respectively.
Grichishkin and Skvortsov were the ones overseeing marketing, personnel management, and client support, while Skorodumov and Stassi were responsible for keeping all systems running and helping clients behind malware and botnet operations to optimize their "Services."
According to a DOJ press release published today, their service provided multiple cybercrime-affiliated clients with the infrastructure needed in malicious campaigns running between 2008 and 2015.
Other services provided by their bulletproof hosting service included registering new infrastructure using false or stolen identities to help clients circumvent law enforcement efforts to block their attacks.
A key service provided by the defendants was helping their clients to evade detection by law enforcement and continue their crimes uninterrupted; the defendants did so by monitoring sites used to blocklist technical infrastructure used for crime, moving "Flagged" content to new infrastructure, and registering all such infrastructure under false or stolen identities.