Two cybersecurity experts from the United States have been sentenced to prison over charges related to their role in ransomware attacks.
Ryan Goldberg of Georgia and Kevin Martin of Texas were each given a 4-year prison sentence after they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct or affect interstate commerce by extortion.
A third US-based cybersecurity professional who also took part in the ransomware scheme, Angelo Martino from Florida, also pleaded guilty recently and is awaiting sentencing.
The three men were working at cybersecurity firms — two of them as ransomware negotiators — when they decided to conduct ransomware attacks against several companies.
They used the ransomware known as BlackCat and Alphv to target victims, paying 20% of the ransom to the cybercrime operation’s administrators.
Authorities said the hackers who turned from white-hat to black-hat received roughly $1.2 million from one victim and laundered their 80% cut through various methods.
Martino’s sentencing is scheduled for July 9.
More than 1,000 organizations were targeted in BlackCat ransomware attacks between November 2021 and December 2023, when the operation was disrupted by authorities. A few months later, the cybercriminals received a $22 million ransom from a victim and pulled an exit scam.
The US has been offering a $10 million reward for information on key members of the ransomware group, but no charges have been announced to date.
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