US court sentences Trickbot developer to five years in prison

A 40-year-old man from Russia has been sentenced to five years and four months in prison in the US for developing and using the Trickbot malware. This has been used, among other things, to infect the systems of American hospitals and government agencies.

The Russian had infected several systems with Trickbot between 2015 and 2020 and captured confidential information and money, writes the US Department of Justice. He targeted government institutions, schools, private companies and hospitals, among others. According to the ministry, the convicted person “caused tens of millions of dollars in damage.” In 2021, the Russian was arrested in South Korea and later extradited to the US.

Trickbot is ransomware that decrypts the computer after bitcoin payment. In addition, the software extracted data such as bank login details and personal data in order to steal even more money. The conviction of the Russian is not the first conviction in this case. In June, a co-suspect, a Latvian woman, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. She is said to have written code related to the control, deployment and payments of the ransomware.