US Sanctions First VPN in Crackdown on Ransomware Criminals
European authorities dismantled the VPN service in May following a yearslong investigation.
3 min read
The US Department of the Treasury this week sanctioned First VPN Service, saying it enabled cybercriminals to launch ransomware attacks against American companies and institutions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, an intelligence and enforcement agency within the Department of the Treasury, also levied sanctions on First VPN administrator Dmytro Rashevskyi and Yegeniy Vladimirovich Silayev for selling tools used to disguise ransomware and other malware. These tools -- known as "cryptors" -- prevent security systems from detecting or deactivating them.
In May, European authorities dismantled First VPN, also known as 1VPNS, and arrested Rashevskyi, who is based in Dnipro, Ukraine, to culminate an investigation that began in 2021.
Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, said that First VPN was well publicized on Russian-language cybercrime forums as a service offering anonymous payments, hidden...
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