Russians Busted on Hacking Charges

S E A T T L E, April 24 -- Two men have been indicted in what was described as a Russian computer hacking ring that victimized banks and other businesses through extortion and the theft of credit card numbers.

Alexey Ivanov, 20, and Vasiliy Gorshkov, 25, were arrested afterthe FBI established a bogus Internet security firm called“Invita,” let the men hack into it and then lured them to theUnited States to apply for jobs, according to a 20-count federalgrand jury indictment.

Much of the case is built on reverse hacking by the FBI toaccess the Russian computers, raising issues to be argued in U.S.District Court next month.

According to documents filed by government lawyers, the pair maybe linked to hundreds of crimes, including the theft of 15,700credit card numbers from Western Union in Denver in September, by agroup calling itself “The Expert Group of Protection AgainstHackers.”

A computer file in an account registered to Ivanov alsocontained 38,000 credit card numbers from another business that wasnot identified in court papers, investigators wrote.

Dozens of Businesses, 10 States

The hacking extended to more than 40 businesses in 10 states,including banks in Texas and California and PayPal of Palo Alto,Calif., the country’s largest Internet-based payment company,Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Schroeder said.

According to recently unsealed court documents, Gorshkov andIvanov used computers in Chelyabinsk, Russia, to scan the Internetfor vulnerable business operating systems.

They and associates who remain in Russia are believed to havemade tens of thousands of probes and intrusions into computersystems, usually through a vulnerable version of Microsoft WindowsNT.

Nationwide Warnings

The problem became so acute that the Department of Justice’sNational Infrastructure Protection Center issued nationwidewarnings in December and March.

Ivanov also has been indicted in New Jersey and Connecticut,where he now is in custody, according to court records. Gorshkov isbeing held at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.