The Department of Justice has indicted a Russian cybercriminal accused of breaking into the networks of several Dallas-area companies and holding their data for ransom.
Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment against 31-year-old Aleksandr Ryzhenkov on Tuesday afternoon, having originally pieced together the charges in March 2023. The attacks are the latest ransomware crimes to make headlines in the United States; firms, governments and private citizens across the world have scrambled to fend off and manage the increasingly common and devastating digital assaults.
“Ransomware attacks — particularly those deployed by bad actors with ties to Russia — can paralyze a company in the time it takes to open a laptop,” Leigha Simonton, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas said in a Tuesday news release…