In a press release from the US Department of Justice, a Russian citizen Maxim Senakh was sentenced to 46 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Senakh was using malware to infect tens of thousands of servers in order to generate millions in fraudulent payments from click-fraud and scam email schemes.



Seems like a fairly light sentence for such a crime, although it does say he is to be deported after he is released from prison. What the article does tell us though, is that when there are Russian hackers, the FBI can find them.


“The defendant and his co-conspirators sought to turn a network of thousands of infected computers in the United States and around the world into their personal cash machines,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco. “But cybercriminals like Mr. Senakh should take heed: they are not immune from U.S. prosecution just because they operate from afar or behind a veil of technology. We have the ability and the determination to identify them, find them, and bring them to justice.”


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Source: [H]ardOCP – Russian Citizen Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Involvement in Global Botnet Conspiracy