The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia imposed on Wednesday a new set of sanctions against several Russian IT companies, accused of providing IT infrastructure and “bulletproof hosting” services for hackers and cybercrime networks. Among the entities targeted are “Media Land” and “Aeza Group”, as well as associated companies and individuals in Russia and other countries.
According to the US Treasury Department, the sanctions focus on networks that have provided digital shelter to criminal groups, systematically refusing to cooperate with authorities when asked for customer data or illegal content. Among those targeted is also the “Kirishi” data center in St. Petersburg, along with its director, Aleksandr Volosovik, also known under the pseudonyms “Ohyeahhellno”, “podzemniy1”, and “Yalishanda”. He is associated with several satellite companies, such as “Media Land Technologies”, “ML Cloud”, as well as international partners in Serbia, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.
American authorities claim that the infrastructure controlled by these companies has been used in numerous DDoS attacks on companies and critical infrastructure in the US, as well as for hosting illegal markets and ransomware malware programs. For the first time, sanctions have also been applied to IT infrastructure used in hybrid strategies against Ukraine.
This action is part of a broader effort by the G7 countries to intensify economic pressure on Russia and combat the cyber networks that support the military aggression and propaganda of the Kremlin.
Details, HERE