Feb. 16 (UPI) — Two Russian nationals were sentenced to U.S. federal prison terms for their roles in a massive data breach conspiracy, the Department of Justice said.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan announced Thursday that Vladimir Drinkman, 37, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Dmitriy Smilianets, 34, was sentenced to 51 months and 21 days in prison.
“Drinkman and Smilianets not only stole over 160 million credit card numbers from credit card processors, banks, retailers, and other corporate victims, they also used their bounty to fuel a robust underground market for hacked information,” Cronan said.
The pair admitted to participating in a conspiracy with three co-defendants to penetrate the computer networks of corporate victims and steal user names, passwords, credit card information and other means of identification, court documents show.
Drinkman specialized in implanting malware in the computer systems which created a “back door” that left the system vulnerable and allowed them to access to the network.
Once the data was obtained Smilianets was in charge of selling the information to trusted identity theft wholesalers, who in turn sold the collections of data through forums or directly to individuals and organizations.
“These defendants operated at the highest levels of illegal hacking and trafficking of stolen identities,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick. “They used their sophisticated computer skills to infiltrate computer networks, steal information and sell it for a profit. Perpetrators of some of the largest data breaches in history, these defendants posed a real threat to our economy, privacy and national security, and cannot be tolerated.”
