“Stoyanov’s arrest had ‘nothing to do with Kaspersky Lab and its operations.” Maria Shirokova, a spokeswoman for Kaspersky

Between October and December 2016, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested Anonymous International/Shaltay-Boltay leader Vladimir Anikeev as well as two of his alleged accomplices Aleksandr Filinov and Konstantin Tepljakov. Vladimir Anikeev’s girlfriend Irina Shevchenko is on the “wanted list”. The FSB has also arrested Ruslan Stoyanov, the former head of Kaspersky Lab’s Computer Incident Investigation Department. Last but not least, the FSB has arrested colonel Sergey Mikhailov and his colleague Major Dmitry Dokuchaev, both senior officers of the 2nd Operational Management of FSB Information Security Center. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

WARNING — The arrest of the high-ranking officers of the Federal Security Service – Sergey Mikhaylov and Dmitry Dokuchayev may or may not be connected with the case of the Shaltay Boltay hack group. Also, it is not known at this point whether or not, this story is related to the “hack” of the 2016 US Presidential election.

Indeed on February 5 2017, Russian media reported that Anikeev has pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to computer information. According to Anikeev’s lawyer Ruslan Koblev:

Anikeev confirmed he is the hacker known as ‘Lewis’ Anikeev now denies knowing FSB high-ranking officers Colonel Sergey Mikhailov and Major Dmitry Dokuchaev. [This is a bit strange for it has been assumed so far that Anikeev had pointed Mikhailov to the investigators after his arrest in October 2016. But, even if this information is true, it does not rule out the possibility that Mikhailov was ‘using’ Anikeev since he acknowledged that he did not always know who he was working for.] Anikeev is charged only with part 3 of Article 272 (Illegal Access to Computer Information). Anikeev claims that the arrests of the FSB officers and Kaspersky Lab employee — charged with treason — have nothing to do with his case.

This series will focus on the profiles of the — known — individuals wanted or arrested so far, as well as those who may be arrested in the near future. Their suspected crimes and the global timeline of this affair will also be detailed in two other posts. These posts will be updated whenever additional information is made available.

Profile of Ruslan Stoyanov

Ruslan Stoyanov was working as a senior employee at Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab which is Russia’s biggest cyber security firm. As head of its computer incidents investigations unit, Stoyanov was in charge of investigating hacking attacks.

ARREST — Ruslan Stoyanov was arrested in December 2016.

LEGAL CHARGE –Ruslan Stoyanov is charged under Art. 275 of the Criminal Code (High treason).

CRIMES — UNKNOWN –Maria Shirokova, a spokeswoman for Kaspersky, said in a statement that Stoyanov’s arrest had ‘nothing to do with Kaspersky Lab and its operations’. She said the company has no details of the charges faced by Stoyanov, adding that the investigation pre-dates his time with Kaspersky.

LIFE — Stoyanov’s previous jobs, according to LinkedIn, include a position at the Cyber Crime Unit at the Russian interior ministry in the early 2000s. (Management of special technical activities of the Moscow police — Department K). His subordinates at Kaspersky Lab also come from this administration. Then, Stoyanov served as deputy director at a cybercrime investigation firm called “Indrik”, before joining Kaspersky.

KASPERSKY — Ruslan Stoyanov headed the cybercrime department in Kaspersky Lab since 2013. He joined the company in 2012. It is believed that around that time, his department began to cooperate with the FSB and the Interior Ministry.

‘LURK HACKERS’ — This large group of hackers has stolen over 1.7 billion rubles ($28.700.000) from Russian bank accounts. Stoyanov was assisting the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service in their investigation of this group. Some members of this group have been arrested yesterday (08/02/2017). Stoyanov and Colonel Mikhailov were certainly collaborating on this case.

LINK TO Colonel Mikhailov — It seems likely that Mikhailov was passing information to Kaspersky Lab employee Ruslan Stoyanov and probably one more not yet named expert on computer security in exchange for money. Then, the information would be sold to intermediaries abroad, and eventually passed on to foreign intelligence services (probably but not necessarily the CIA). Russian media suggests that Colonel Mikhailov may have been selling information for at least seven years.

VIDEO

REFERENCES

https://twitter.com/b0ltai

https://b0ltai.org/

Man involved in Shaltay-Boltay case was after Lurk hacker group — Crime RUSSIA 08/02/2017