Security News > 2022 > June > 'Prolific' NetWalker extortionist pleads guilty to ransomware charges
A former Canadian government employee has pleaded guilty in a US court to several charges related to his involvement with the NetWalker ransomware gang.
He will also forfeit $21.5 million and 21 laptops, mobile phones, gaming consoles, and other devices, according to his plea agreement [PDF], which described Vachon-Desjardins as "One of the most prolific NetWalker Ransomware affiliates" responsible for extorting said millions of dollars from dozens of companies worldwide.
This includes testifying against his former NetWalker affiliates.
In January 2021, the US Dept of Justice said it launched a coordinated international sting operation to disrupt NetWalker.
At the time, security shop Chainalysis estimated the ransomware code, which is offered as-a-service for criminals to rent, extorted at least $46 million from some 305 victims across 27 different countries, including 203 in the US. As part of the NetWalker takedown, the Feds seized about $454,530 in cryptocurrency in ransom payments, disabled the crime rings' servers and dark-web blog it used to communicate with ransomware victims, and also arrested Vachons-Desjardins, who, according to the FBI, raked in $27 million for the NetWalker gang.
Vachons-Desjardins' plea agreement identified "Victim 1" as a company located in Tampa, Florida, and detailed how, around April 20, 2020, he breached that organization's network security, encrypted files and deployed ransomware before dropping a ransom note indicating that the organization had been compromised by NetWalker.