The US Department of State has offered a $2.5m bounty for the arrest of Volodymyr Kadariya, a Belarusian malware developer accused of involvement in the Angler exploit kit (AEK) and other cyber crimes. Kadariya, also known as Vladimir Kadaria, worked with co-conspirator Maksim Silnikau, aka “JP Morgan”, in a cyber criminal cartel for over a decade. The State Department alleges that Kadariya and Silnikau distributed malware and scams to millions of victims from 2013 to 2022, making millions of dollars from ransomware strains like Reveton and Ransom Cartel. If captured, Kadariya could face up to 27 years in jail. Despite the challenges of bringing Russian and Belarusian criminals to justice, recent arrests show that they can be apprehended in other countries, as was the case with Silnikau in Spain. ImmuniWeb CEO Ilia Kolochenko warns that the current geopolitical crisis is causing former allies in cyber crime to turn on each other for ideological reasons, leading to increased competition and betrayal. The US government is urging anyone with information to contact the Secret Service or their local embassy.
The US government offers a $2.5 million reward for the capture of a fugitive malware developer
