Transcripts For CSPAN2 Justice Department Briefing On Russia

This halfhour News Conference included doj and state Department Officials and representatives from the uk National Crime agency. Good morning, thank you for being here. We are here to identify and announced charges against a Russian National to the department of justice alleges is responsible for 2 of the worst computer hacking and Bank Fraud Schemes of the past decade. The charges we are announcing today are merely allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent until Proven Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Maxine of moscow, russia, has been indicted in pittsburgh, pennsylvania for his alleged role as leader of a cyber criminal gang responsible for the distribution of a multi function malware package known as bill get designed to automate the theft of confidential personal information and Financial Information like Online Banking credentials from infected computers. Later versions of the malware were designed with the added function of assisting in the installation of ran somewhere. The malware facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from victims some of which occurred as recently as may of this year. A second coconspirator was indicted in pittsburgh in connection with the scheme and also been charged in a criminal complaint in lincoln, nebraska for his participation in a scheme to disseminate zeus, similar form of malware that was used to empty out the financial accounts of its victims. The deployment resulted in the theft of 220 million with actual losses of an estimated 70 million from victims Bank Accounts. This is a true 21stcentury criminal who with the stroke of a key and the click of a mouse committed cybercrimes across the globe. Here and his place on the fbi list of the worlds most wanted cybercriminals. Colleagues in the state department have an announcement in a few minutes that will further our collective efforts to bring them to justice. A little bit of detail about the malware deployed by his coconspirators. Both forms of the malware intercept passwords and other private information that can be used to conduct wire transfers. This directs while transfers from Bank Accounts to foreign Bank Accounts controlled by the criminals. Many of the victims are small and midsize businesses, they dont have the same Legal Protections afforded consumer counsel some of the losses involved were particularly devastating. They did not discriminate in their choice of targets. The nebraska complaint alleges that igor yaccovich was involved in the theft of tens of thousands of dollars from a religious order, franciscan sisters. Igor yaccovich and his network devised and implemented criminal schemes so audacious and sophisticated that they would be difficult to imagine if they were not real. Sitting quietly at conservator terminals far away these cyber criminals were allegedly stole tens of millions of dollars from unwitting members of business, nonprofit, governmental and religious communities. Each and every one of these was a cyber enabled bank robbery. We take crimes like this extremely seriously and we will do everything in our power to hold criminals accountable for their crimes. The justice department, federal prosecutors, fbi agents and analyst and foreign Law Enforcement authorities and a number of different jurisdictions Work Together to unmask igor yaccovich and his coconspirators. The assistance was likewise invaluable but i want to thank foreign Law Enforcement partners who are on stage today from the United Kingdom. A National Prime agency in the uk conducted their own investigation into the harm the viruses caused to the uk, uk victims. But these provided invaluable assistance to our investigations in the United States as well. The uk extra dated 2 of igor yaccovichs coconspirators to face justice. Igor yaccovich has been engaged in cybercrime on an unimaginable scale for almost a decade where our goal is to identify the perpetrators of these crimes in rapid fashion. The reality of Law Enforcement is a quick resolution to these cases cannot always happen but we will doggedly pursue cybercriminals before we bring them to justice. Todays announcement should make clear we will identify you, unmask you and prosecute you so no matter how much effort it requires or how long it might take. You will never have safe haven from the efforts of United States Law Enforcement and International Partners to bring you to justice and to that end i think the United States Attorneys Office from the Western District of pennsylvania, the Western District, the district of nebraska, the fbi, the state department and the National Crime agency and metropolitan service all of which are represented behind me by individuals and leaders of those particular institutions and with that i would like to turn it over to scott brady of the Western District of pennsylvania, the United States attorney to make some remarks. Good morning. Today we have announced an indictment out of the Western District of pennsylvania against two of the most prolific cyber criminals in the world. They spent the last decade infecting computers worldwide. Companies and citizens of the Western District of pennsylvania have been targeted and defrauded by these cyber criminals. Max is the leader of the malware conspiracy. He oversees and manages the development, maintenance, distribution and infection of malware. Igor is a close associate who serves as system administrator, has oversight over bot nets and manage internal systems used by the criminal group. Together these two criminals have victimized our district and the world at large. Some of the victims in western pennsylvania include a School District strict, two banking institutions, a number of businesses including a petroleum business, a technology company, a Manufacturing Company and the Building Material supply company. The malware conspiracy was a constantly evolving and adapting criminal enterprise that has a level of sophistication and scope of threat the we rarely see and this conspiracy was marked by constant innovation. Even as we disrupted the conspiracy, the game over zeus, we prosecuted one of their system administrators, we sing cold nets for the conspiracy in 2016 including, we also indicted a Belarus Network in 2016. In spite of these efforts by Law Enforcement they continue to adapt and innovate. They went from centralized command and control systems to peertopeer botnets, using more sophisticated web index, increased use of encryption and enhanced security methods and changed from the use of International Wire transfers to ran somewhere and crypto currency to private accounts and this is why this is the most widespread and destructive malware and banking trojans in the world over the last decade. I want to say a quick word about victims. The department of justice, we are charged with enforcing the laws of the United States and seeking justice but our calling is to protect our fellow citizens and our friends and neighbors. The First Western pennsylvania victim was sharon, pennsylvania, a small steel town. I had family members who graduated from there. We know that for every dollar stolen from a School District that is one less dollar they have for the High School Football team, the Girls Basketball team, one less dollar for teacher salaries or special education. For every dollar stolen from an individual is one less dollar they have for their retirement. One less dollar they have for their childrens education or family vacation. For every dollar stolen from a company that is one less dollar to innovate, create new products, enter new markets or to hire the same friends and neighbors and this is why we go to the ends of the earth, to investigate and prosecute cybercriminals. These are the cybercriminals who victimize our citizens and we will pursue them and prosecute them whether these couples are in pittsburgh, pennsylvania or moscow. Thanks to our International Partners, i would like to recognize the work, outstanding work of assistant us attorney and the best cybergroup in the fbi and field office of pittsburgh, now we will hear from joe kelly, us attorney from nebraska. Thank you. In the district of nebraska, the complaint against his coconspirators refers to three different nebraska Bank Accounts belonging to Small Businesses and to emphasize the nebraska aspect for the victims. The conspiracy is much broader than that in other states but as to those three nebraska intended victims, two were of herded. In those cases there were no losses associated with the two businesses that there was an actual loss of 159,000 with regard to the third. That is just in the state of nebraska. But as has been said the actual losses, estimated at 70 million. The methodology was similar each time. Infected the business computer, obtain Bank Account Numbers and security codes and initiate Electronic Fund transfers overseas. We appreciate the hard work and intelligent approach to this investigation by the justice department, us Law Enforcement agencies and partners around the world. I want to recognize the role played by the omaha fbi office in this investigation from its inception. This is a great example of the ongoing teamwork, Law Enforcement and International Community and demonstrates the resolve to hold these criminals accountable. When someone hears about a case like this very often the First Response is theres nothing you can do about these. Today we are here to demonstrate that we can and will. Good morning. The fbi is charged with defending United States citizens and businesses against a wide range of cybercrimes. We face cyberthreats from hackers for hire, organized criminal syndicates and overseas adversaries like the individuals that are indicted today. With todays announcement we are launching a wideranging disruption operation targeting this group of coconspirators. Over a 10year period, he and his coconspirators operated and improved multiple malware variants to go after as many victims as possible and enriched themselves through theft, fraud, and deceit and spread malware primarily through phishing email, spam campaigns that cause losses in excess of tens of millions of dollars with attempted thefts ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These malware variants affected thousands of us american victims. They included Dairy Company in ohio to a luggage store in new mexico and even an order of religious sisters as the assistant attorney general noted previously. I want to emphasize a few key points, they show the evolution of cyber criminals and their capabilities over the past several years and how persistent these cybercriminals are. We have individuals and groups using different tools, tactics and techniques over time and adapted them to evolve their scams. Second, these cases show the cyber criminals have banded together, leveraging each others strength in organized criminal syndicates and more effectively victimize our public which brings me to the third point to successfully combat them, we as lawenforcement officers do the same. We must come together, partner closely and leverage each others strengths. We must integrate and innovate to combat fiber criminals globally. That is what we have done here. The fbi would like to thank its partners from the department of justice, the department of state, the Treasury Department and the uk National Crime agency. Strong national and International Partnerships are important to these cyber investigations. As we often said publicly cyber criminals disregard orders be they states or countries. This often requires an International Response like the one you are seeing here today. The fbi has worked hand in hand with National Crime Agency Sharing intelligence information for nearly a decade. Why nearly a decade . These cases are incredible he complex and the networks that perpetrate them are very complex and sometimes global. These are sophisticated cyber criminals operating complex very and so investigations of this type takes time. Todays announcement demonstrates our resolve in bringing cybercouples and their activities too late because these couples are in russia, some may ask why pursue them . You may never get your hands on them. It is difficult no doubt but it is not impossible as we have shown time and time again over the past number of years. The long arm of the law, i like that term, it does stretch throughout the world. Having your name, your face or your description on a wanted poster makes moving around freely much more difficult. We are going to keep at it because collectively we have a very long memory and we will never give up. We have a track record of success. When it comes to catching cybercriminals throughout the globe simply naming them in an indictment accomplishes a great deal. We know that through many forms, state sponsors and other clients prize hackers for their anonymity, deniability and stealth. Calling these actors out publicly through these indictment strips away the anonymity. Other parts of the government can use the information developed through investigations to impose additional costs. Like financial sanctions, revoking the ability to travel. Finally a charging document is a key step in achieving justice for the victims. We cannot have gotten this far in our case without the cooperation of the victims and sometimes we think about financial impact. That is significant but we have to remember there are people behind the financial impact. Companies and institutions are under immense pressure during and certainly after Cyber Attacks and they may be reluctant to report these breaches but we urge all victim to contact local field office, local Fbi Field Office as soon as possible once they realize they have been hacked and we encourage our victims to file a detailed report with the fbi crime complaint center, www. Ic 3. Gov. The fbi may provide Additional Information or help during and certainly after an attack. You too can help us fight these attacks. We all need to do our part to make sure our systems are as secure as possible. There is no guarantee against exploitation for anyone but we cannot stress enough the importance of cyber hygiene and preventative measures the we can take. Time and again we find not following the basics of cyber hygiene makes us more vulnerable and allows us to be more easily exploited. For guidance and information improving cyber hygiene and security of the system please visit www. Ic 3. Gov. We have to do what we can together to lay hands on these criminals to deter others from joining them. I want to not only thank our partners but efforts of our agents and analysts from the fbi and our partners who worked very hard, but my own people, we appreciate your diligence, these cases are difficult, tedious and technical and require tenacity and resolve. The efforts to bring him to justice is a high priority for the United States, the state department is pleased to be part of this joint effort. The fact that all our agencies and the United Kingdom are represented here today underscores how closely we Work Together. We bring unique tools and authorities to our respective agencies to bear against transnational criminals and Transnational Criminal Organizations that threaten American Interest and our people. There is one particular state department tool we are applying here today and that is the transnational organized prime rewards program. As my counterparts have already stated, todays action is one step to ensure that cyber criminals cannot hide from justice. We will continue working together to protect americans from these threats. Now id like to turn over to our uk calling from the National Crime Agency Director of threat leadership, robert jones. So thank you, thank you to colleagues from the United States for inviting me here today to talk about this investigation, which is a landmark