COURT DOC: Citizen of Kazakhstan, Known as “fxmsp,” Charged With Computer Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Conspiracy for Hacking Hundreds of Corporate Networks in More Than 40 Countries Worldwide

An indictment was unsealed today in the Western District of Washington charging a citizen of Kazakhstan, ANDREY TURCHIN, a/k/a ‘fxmsp,’ 37, with various federal crimes related to a prolific, financially motivated cybercrime group that hacked the computer networks of a broad array of corporate entities, educational institutions, and governments throughout the world, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. The ‘fxmsp’ group established persistent access, or ‘backdoors,’ to victim networks, which they then advertised and sold to other cybercriminals subjecting victims to a variety of cyberattacks and 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….Once inside the victims 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… (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)