Current:Home > MyGlobal hacker investigated by federal agents in Puerto Rico pleads guilty in IPStorm case-LoTradeCoin
Global hacker investigated by federal agents in Puerto Rico pleads guilty in IPStorm case
View Date:2024-12-23 20:28:10
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A man with Russian and Moldovan citizenship pleaded guilty to illegally taking control of thousands of electronic devices worldwide to rent them to clients who wanted to hide their internet activity, U.S. prosecutors in Puerto Rico said Tuesday.
The scheme ran from at least June 2019 to December 2022 and generated more than a half-million dollars, with unidentified customers paying hundreds of dollars a month for the service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico said in a statement.
Authorities said Sergei Makinin developed and deployed malicious software to gain control of people’s devices via an extensive network known as a “botnet,” which was dubbed IPStorm.
He then sold illegal access to the hijacked devices to clients seeking to keep their internet activities private, advertising that he had more than 23,000 “highly anonymous” proxies available worldwide, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Makinin pleaded guilty as part of a deal with federal authorities. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.
His lawyer, Javier Micheo Marcial, declined comment when reached by The Associated Press.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s San Juan office and prosecuted by federal prosecutors in Puerto Rico because infected computers were reported in various towns in the U.S. territory. However, Makinin was living in Spain at the time, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“This case serves as a warning that the reach of the law is long, and criminals anywhere who use computers to commit crimes may end up facing the consequences of their actions in places they did not anticipate,” U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow said in a statement.
veryGood! (648)
Related
- Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump’s classified documents case
- One Year Later, Pennsylvanians Living Near the East Palestine Train Derailment Site Say They’re Still Sick
- This woman is living with terminal cancer. She's documenting her story on TikTok.
- Feds accuse alleged Japanese crime boss with conspiring to traffic nuclear material
- My Little Pony finally hits the Toy Hall of Fame, alongside Phase 10 and Transformers
- Yale wants you to submit your test scores. University of Michigan takes opposite tack.
- Mysterious lake at Death Valley National Park has outlasted expectations: What to know
- CEOs of OpenAI and Intel cite artificial intelligence’s voracious appetite for processing power
- Saks Fifth Avenue’s holiday light display in Manhattan changing up this season
- The BrüMate Era Is The New Designated It-Girl Tumbler, & It Actually Lives Up to The Hype
Ranking
- Lou Donaldson, jazz saxophonist who blended many influences, dead at 98
- Can Jennifer Lopez's 'This Is Me... Now' say anything new?
- Rescuers battle to save a baby elephant trapped in a well
- Jimmy Carter becomes first living ex-president with official White House Christmas ornament
- Medical King recalls 222,000 adult bed assistance rails after one reported death
- Going on 30 years, an education funding dispute returns to the North Carolina Supreme Court
- Here's your 2024 Paris Olympics primer: When do the Games start, what's the schedule, more
- Lawyers for Malcolm X family say new statements implicate NYPD, feds in assassination
Recommendation
-
Contained, extinguished and mopping up: Here’s what some common wildfire terms mean
-
Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews becomes fastest US-born player to 50 goals
-
Sean 'Diddy' Combs denies claims he gang raped 17-year-old girl
-
James Biden, Joe Biden's brother, tells lawmakers the president had no involvement in family's business dealings
-
Bo the police K-9, who located child taken at knifepoint, wins Hero Dog Awards 2024
-
James Biden, Joe Biden's brother, tells lawmakers the president had no involvement in family's business dealings
-
Minnesota man arrested in connection to murder of Los Angeles model
-
Going on 30 years, an education funding dispute returns to the North Carolina Supreme Court