Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell Announces Reward for Cyber Fugitive at Washington Foreign Press Center

Washington, DC

United States

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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Good afternoon, thank you all for joining us.

Today, we are announcing a reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Evgeniy Bogachev, an alleged leader of a tightly knit gang of cyber criminals based in Russia and Ukraine who were responsible for the development and operation of both the Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker malware.

Gameover Zeus was one of the most sophisticated and damaging botnets ever encountered, infecting between 500,000 and one million computers worldwide, and causing more than $100 million in financial losses to businesses and consumers in the United States alone.

On top of that, the Cryptolocker ransomware infected more than 250,000 computers worldwide, and targeted companies big and small, as well as individuals.

In May and June 2014, we were able to wrest control of the Gameover Zeus botnet from the criminals and take Cryptolocker offline.  This was thanks to an unprecedented action orchestrated by law enforcement and private sector partners in 10 different countries.

Today, due to the work of the FBI and its partners, Gameover Zeus has been neutralized and is out of the criminals’ hands and Cryptolocker remains non-operational.  

But one significant part of the puzzle remains incomplete, as Bogachev remains at large.  Although we were able to significantly disrupt the Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker criminal enterprise, we have not yet brought Bogachev himself to justice.

We must not allow international borders to shield criminals from the law.  As more nations join the fight against international cybercrime, the number of countries once perceived as sanctuaries is shrinking, and will continue to shrink.  

In the case of Bogachev, the same international coalition that brought down his botnet is now chasing him.

We appreciate the State Department shining the light on this important case again today.  This reward will reinvigorate the efforts to find Bogachev and encourage others to join the hunt.

I am confident that Bogachev will one day be caught and brought to face justice in the United States.