United States v. Andrey Turchin

United States v. Andrey Turchin

 Case Summary: 

ANDREY TURCHIN is charged in a 5 count indictment consisting of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, two counts of computer fraud and abuse (hacking), conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and access device fraud.  TURCHIN and his accomplices perpetrated an ambitious hacking enterprise broadly targeting hundreds of victims across six continents, including more than 30 in the United States.  Widely known in hacking circles by the moniker “fxmsp,” TURCHIN employed a collection of hacking techniques and malicious software (malware) to gain and maintain access to victim networks.  For instance, he often used specially designed code to scan the Internet for open Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) ports and conduct brute-force attacks to initially compromise victim networks.  Once inside the victim’s system, he moved laterally throughout the network and deployed additional malicious code to locate and steal administrative credentials and establish persistent access.  The conspirators often modified antivirus software settings to allow malware to continue to run undetected.

TURCHIN and his co-conspirators then marketed and sold the network access on various underground forums commonly frequented by hackers and cybercriminals, such as Exploit.in, fuckav.ru, Club2Card, Altenen, Blackhacker, Omerta, Sniff3r, and L33t, among others.  Prices typically ranged from a couple thousand dollars to, in some cases, over a hundred thousand dollars, depending on the victim and the degree of system access and controls.  Many transactions occurred through use of a broker and escrow, which allowed interested buyers to sample the network access for a limited period to test the quality and reliability of the illicit access.  As has been publicly reported, the “fxmsp” group has been linked to numerous high-profile data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber intrusions

Defendant(s):  United States v. Andrey Turchin 

Court Documents:

            Indictment:  United States v. Andrey Turchin

Press Release:  https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/citizen-kazakhstan-known-fxmsp-charged-computer-fraud-wire-fraud-and-conspiracy-hacking