Russia Convicts One of Its Own Cybersecurity Experts of Treason
The founder of one of Russia's most prominent cybersecurity companies has been convicted of treason by a Russian court and will spend the next 14 years in jail.
As Reuters reports(Opens in a new window), Ilya Sachkov started the cybersecurity firm Group-IB when he was only 17 and subsequently received a business prize for young entrepreneurs from President Vladimir Putin in 2019. At that point, Group-IB was focused on investigating high-tech crimes and online fraud in Russia and globally. However, in 2021, Sachkov was arrested and accused of treason.
As Bloomberg reported(Opens in a new window) at the time, the Russian government believes Sachkov provided information to the US with regards to the "Fancy Bear(Opens in a new window)" operation. Fancy Bear was a hacking operation run by Russia's GRU military intelligence service with the aim of influencing the 2016 US presidential elections. Apparently the information provided by Sachkov helped the FBI identify GRU agents.
Sachkov also drew the unwanted focus of the Russian authorities a year before his arrest. He stood up during an event attended by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and accused the government of allowing a Russian criminal hacker to run a business unhindered, as well as criticizing the appointment of a former spy to oversee advanced technology experts. His speech was shown on state television.
Group-IB started moving its operations out of Russia a few months after Sachkov received his prize in 2019 and completed the move in April(Opens in a new window) this year, with the sanctions against Russia over its war with Ukraine making it clear staying wasn't a viable option anymore. Former colleagues of Sachkov, who acquired the Russian arm of Group-IB
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