Security News > 2022 > December > Suspects arrested for hacking US networks to steal employee data
Four men suspected of hacking into US networks to steal employee data for identity theft and the filing of fraudulent US tax returns have been arrested in London, UK, and Malmo, Sweden, at the request of the U.S. law enforcement authorities.
The suspects identified in four recently unsealed U.S. indictments are Akinola Taylor, Olayemi Adafin, Olakunle Oyebanjo, and Kazeem Olanrewaju Runsewe.
The four men are accused of transnational wire fraud and identity theft for filing false tax claims with the United States Internal Revenue Service to steal money from the agency through tax refunds.
To gain access to these servers, the Department of Justice says the suspects purchased stolen credentials from cybercrime marketplaces, such as the now-shut-down xDedic marketplace.
"One of the places that Taylor and Runsewe had obtained unauthorized access to computer servers was the xDedic Marketplace, a website that operated for years and was used to sell access to compromised computers worldwide and personally identifiable information of U.S. residents," read the DoJ announcement.
xDedic was a Ukrainian-language cybercrime forum and Remote Desktop Protocol marketplace, selling hackers access to computer networks breached by brute-forcing user passwords, exploiting vulnerabilities, or bribing insiders.