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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Big Cyber Crime Bust!

    Big Cyber Crime Bust!

    Have you ever heard of GozNym? Probably not, it is a hybrid of two pieces of malware, Nymaim, and Gozi. When used together, The Nymaim software is designed to sneak The Gozi malware onto a device and install it. Gozi malware has been around since 2007. Over the years it has changed, but it aims at stealing financial information.

    Recently FBI has cracked down on an international cybercrime gang which used GozNym to steal over $100m from more than 40,000 victims. The large-scale investigation expanded from the US into Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

    The members of the cybergang are criminals who advertised their skills in online forums. They seemed to team up and target bank information. Among the victims were small businesses, law firms, international corporations, and non-profit organizations. They are also charged with developing malware, advertising their ‘product’ and selling it to other criminals.

    Ten Members have been charged, on a range of offenses. The Leader of the group currently faces charges in Georgia. Another member, who was in charge of taking over different bank accounts, has been sent to the US. The man who encrypted GozNym malware to make sure it was not detected on networks faces prosecution in Moldova. Two more face charges in Germany for money-laundering.

    Five Russian nationals remain on the run, including one who developed the GozNym malware and oversaw its development and management, including selling it to other cybercriminals.

    We talked to senior Chris Thelen and asked him his thoughts on the bust. Thelen stated       “Things like this are not discussed a lot in the news. It can be a big problem because it affects normal people like us, and there’s not much we can do about our money and info being stolen online.”

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