Hackers Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Cryptojacking

December 10, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

US court found Romanian hackers Bogdan Nicolescu, 37, and Radu Miclaus, 37, guilty of creating a botnet, stealing personal data and illegal mining on users’ devices.

It is reported that Bogdan Nicolescu and Radu Miclaus were part of the Romanian hacker group Bayrob Group. Its story began back in 2007 when hackers created the virus and spread it via email. After infection, the virus sent its copies to the email addresses found in the contacts of users of the infected computer. Over 400,000 computers were infected that were subsequently used to mine cryptocurrencies.

Investigators found that in addition to mining, hackers were selling information found on users’ computers through the darknet. According to law enforcement estimates, the actions of the attackers led to damage in the amount of $4 million.

Bogdan Nicolescu received 20 years in prison, and Rad Miklaus was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 years. They were convicted on 21 counts, including fraud, money laundering and so on.

“Today’s sentences underscore the critical work being done to investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent those criminals who think that the presumed anonymity of the Internet can hide their pervasive and extensive criminal activities,” said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman.

Recently, Western Australia State Police announced the seizure of Australian $1.52 million (about $1 million) in cryptocurrencies from detainees charged with drug trafficking.

Author: Marko Vidrih