Aleksandr Grichishkin, Providing Bulletproof Hosting, Michigan 2024
A Russian man was sentenced to 60 months in prison for providing 'bulletproof hosting' services to cybercriminals.
Aleksandr Grichishkin, 34, of Russia, was sentenced on December 1, 2023, by Chief Judge Denise Page Hood of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Grichishkin was a founder and leader of a bulletproof hosting organization that rented internet protocol (IP) addresses, servers, and domains to cybercriminal clients who employed this technical infrastructure to disseminate malware that allowed them to gain access to victims' computers, form botnets, and steal banking credentials for use in frauds.
According to court documents, Grichishkin's organization hosted malware, including Zeus, SpyEye, Citadel, and the Blackhole Exploit Kit, which attacked U.S. companies and financial institutions between 2009 and 2015 and caused or attempted to cause millions of dollars in losses to U.S. victims.
Grichishkin also helped clients evade detection by law enforcement and continue their crimes uninterrupted by monitoring sites used to blocklist technical infrastructure used for crime, moving 'flagged' content to new infrastructure, and registering all such infrastructure under false or stolen identities.
On June 28 and October 20, respectively, Chief Judge Hood sentenced two of Grichishkin's co-conspirators, Pavel Stassi, 30, of Estonia, to 24 months in prison and Aleksandr Skorodumov, 33, of Lithuania, to 48 months in prison for their roles in the scheme.
The FBI investigated the case with critical assistance from law enforcement partners in Germany, Estonia, and the United Kingdom.
Sr. Counsel Louisa K. Marion of the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick E. Corbett of the Eastern District of Michigan prosecuted the case.
The Justice Office's Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance.
Mandatory Facts: Aleksandr Grichishkin, Conspiracy to Engage in a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization, Michigan, December 1, 2023, 60 months in prison.
Key Facts
- State: Michigan
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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