‘Most Wanted’ Man Pleads Guilty in Cyberattack That Upended Vermont Hospital

A Ukrainian man pleaded responsible in federal court docket on Thursday to his management position in two cyberattack schemes that precipitated tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in losses and quickly crippled a Vermont hospital in 2020, in accordance with the Justice Department.

Prosecutors stated that Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, 37, was a pacesetter for a corporation that in May 2009 started to contaminate hundreds of computer systems at firms with malicious software program, and that he helped lead a separate malware scheme that started round November 2018.

Mr. Penchukov, of Donetsk, pleaded responsible within the U.S. District Court in Nebraska to at least one depend of conspiracy to commit an offense that violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was arrested in Switzerland in 2022 and was extradited to the United States in 2023. A lawyer for Mr. Penchukov couldn’t be discovered as a result of the court docket file was sealed.

The Justice Department stated that Mr. Penchukov helped lead “a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and conspiracy” that put in malicious software program often known as Zeus onto hundreds of enterprise computer systems, beginning in 2009. The malware allowed the enterprise to gather info used to log into on-line banking accounts, together with passwords and private identification numbers.

Mr. Penchukov and different members of the group then portrayed themselves as workers of the firms who have been licensed to switch cash from the accounts they focused, inflicting tens of millions of {dollars} in losses, in accordance with the Justice Department.

The cash was deposited into the accounts of residents of the United States and different international locations who have been often known as “money mules,” and people individuals then despatched it to abroad accounts that have been run by Mr. Penchukov and different members of the group, in accordance with the Justice Department.

Mr. Penchukov had been charged for these offenses in 2012 whereas he was nonetheless at massive, in accordance with an indictment that was unsealed in 2014.

On Thursday, Mr. Penchukov additionally pleaded responsible to his management position within the separate malware scheme that ran from no less than November 2018 to February 2021, in accordance with federal prosecutors.

The malware, often known as IcedID or Bokbot, was put in on computer systems to gather private info from victims, together with checking account credentials, and the info was used to steal from them, in accordance with the Justice Department. IcedID additionally allowed the cybercriminals to put in extra malware on contaminated computer systems, together with ransomware, which is used to lock digital info till the sufferer pays for its launch.

The targets of those ransomware assaults included the University of Vermont Medical Center, which misplaced greater than $30 million, in accordance with the Justice Department. A 2020 assault on the hospital additionally “left the medical center unable to provide many critical patient services for over two weeks, creating a risk of death or serious bodily injury to patients,” the Justice Department stated.

Workers on the University of Vermont Medical Center informed The New York Times in November 2020 that the assault had pressured the hospital to ship away tons of of most cancers sufferers and required workers to go looking by way of written data to seek out vital info.

In September 2023, the medical heart’s president, Dr. Stephen Leffler, testified within the House of Representatives, and stated that the hospital didn’t have entry to digital medical data for 28 days due to the assault.

“We didn’t have internet,” Dr. Leffler stated. “We didn’t have phones. It impacted radiology imaging, laboratory results.”

The hospital stated in a press release that it was “proud of our team’s work to provide the best possible care while the investigation and restoration were underway.”

Mr. Penchukov was often known as Vyacheslav Igoravich Andreev and Tank, a web based nickname, in accordance with the Justice Department. He had been on the F.B.I.’s Cyber’s Most Wanted List for almost a decade.

Mr. Penchukov’s sentencing is scheduled for May 9. He faces as much as 20 years in jail for every depend.