Wanted Zeus malware leader arrested

November 18, 2022

Swiss authorities arrested Ukrainian citizen Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, who was wanted by the FBI for 12 years for his involvement in a cyber-criminal group that stole millions of dollars from bank accounts using Zeus malware.

Penchukov, also known as “Tank,” was secretly indicted in 2012 for using Zeus malware and botnet to collect access data for bank accounts, empty those accounts and then send the money abroad via a network of money mules. Penchukov was arrested in Geneva on 23 October 2022 and now faces extradition to the United States.

He is known to have worked with Ivan Viktorvich Klepikov and Alexey Dmitrievich Bron as one of the leaders of the JabberZeus Crew, a small cybercriminal gang from Ukraine and Russia that used a customized version of the Zeus banking Trojan to attack victims.

Penchukov and eight other members of the cybercriminal group infected thousands of computers of companies with Zeus, a virus that can steal passwords, account numbers and other information to access online banking accounts.

The sources for this piece include an article in TheHackerNews.

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Jim Love

Jim is an author and podcast host with over 40 years in technology.

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