The United States on Monday announced the sentencing of a Russian national for his role in a scheme involving the theft and trading of personal and financial information.
The man, Aleksandr Brovko, 36, admitted in February to conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud. Documents presented in court revealed that he was active on multiple elite, online forums where Russian-speaking cybercriminals traded tools and services.
Between 2007 and 2019, Brovko collaborated with other cybercriminals for the monetization of large amounts of data stolen through botnets. He created scripts that were used to parse botnet logs, but also performed manual searches of the data, to extract the information that could be easily monetized.
Furthermore, he checked the validity of stolen account credentials and determined whether the compromised financial accounts had enough funds to be used in fraudulent transactions.
Over the course of the conspiracy, Brovko trafficked more than 200,000 records consisting of personally identifying information or details on financial accounts, court documents reveal.
Brovko’s actions resulted in estimated intended losses of more than $100 million. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
“For over a decade, Brovko participated in a scheme to gain access to Americans’ personal and financial information, causing more than $100 million in intended loss. This prosecution and the sentence imposed show the department’s commitment to work with our international and state counterparts to bring cybercriminals to justice no matter where they are located,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.
Related: Russian Sentenced to Prison for Hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox
Related: ‘Dark Overlord’ Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
Related: Maryland Man Gets 12 Months in Prison for Hacking Former Employer
Related: Nigerian Hacker Sentenced to Prison in U.S. for Targeting Government Employees

More from Ionut Arghire
- Critical Vulnerability Impacts Over 120 Lexmark Printers
- BIND Updates Patch High-Severity, Remotely Exploitable DoS Flaws
- Microsoft Urges Customers to Patch Exchange Servers
- Iranian APT Leaks Data From Saudi Arabia Government Under New Persona
- 820k Impacted by Data Breach at Zacks Investment Research
- US Government Agencies Warn of Malicious Use of Remote Management Software
- Chinese Hackers Adopting Open Source ‘SparkRAT’ Tool
- CISA Provides Resources for Securing K-12 Education System
Latest News
- Critical Vulnerability Impacts Over 120 Lexmark Printers
- BIND Updates Patch High-Severity, Remotely Exploitable DoS Flaws
- Industry Reactions to Hive Ransomware Takedown: Feedback Friday
- Microsoft Urges Customers to Patch Exchange Servers
- Iranian APT Leaks Data From Saudi Arabia Government Under New Persona
- US Reiterates $10 Million Reward Offer After Disruption of Hive Ransomware
- Cyberattacks Target Websites of German Airports, Admin
- US Infiltrates Big Ransomware Gang: ‘We Hacked the Hackers’
