Two Bulletproof Hosting Administrators Sentenced to Prison in U.S.

The United States Department of Justice this week announced that two individuals involved in providing bulletproof hosting to various malware families were sentenced to prison.

Between 2009 and 2015, the two individuals – Aleksandr Skorodumov, 33, of Lithuania, and Pavel Stassi, 30, of Estonia – served as administrators for an organization that offered bulletproof hosting to malware families such as Citadel, SpyEye, Zeus, and the Blackhole exploit kit.

The organization, which was founded and led by Russian nationals Aleksandr Grichishkin and Andrei Skvortsov, both 34, rented domains, IP addresses, and servers to cybercriminals looking to infect computers, create botnets, and compromise banking credentials.

The organization also helped clients evade detection and perpetrate their illegal activities unhindered by law enforcement efforts by monitoring sites that maintained lists for blocking infrastructure used for crime and by registering new infrastructure.

Both defendants pleaded guilty in May. Skorodumov served as a lead systems administrator for the organization, configuring and managing domains and IP addresses and offering assistance, while Stassi served in various administrative roles, including overseeing the organization’s online marketing and registering new infrastructure when needed.

For their roles in the scheme, Skorodumov was sentenced to 48 months in prison and Stassi to 24 months in prison.

Grichishkin and Skvortsov, who face up to 20 years in prison, are pending sentencing. They have also pleaded guilty.

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