Another NetWalker Ransomware Affiliate Gets 20-Year Prison Sentence in US

A second individual accused of being involved in NetWalker ransomware attacks, a Romanian national, has received a 20-year prison sentence.

A Romanian national accused of conducting cyberattacks using the NetWalker ransomware has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.

In addition to the prison sentence, the man, 30-year-old Daniel Christian Hulea, has been ordered to pay nearly $15 million in restitution, and has been ordered to forfeit $21.5 million and his interests in an Indonesian luxury resort business that was funded using money obtained from the ransomware attacks.

Hulea was arrested in 2023 in Romania and was later extradited to the United States. He was accused of being a NetWalker ransomware affiliate — using the ransomware to target organizations from which he and a co-conspirator extorted more than 1,500 bitcoin (worth $21.5 million at the time of the ...