LONDON, Oct 1—Britain said on Tuesday that it had sanctioned 16 members of Russia’s notorious cyber-crime gang Evil Corp, which it accused of being ordered by the state to carry out operations against NATO allies. The move is part of a coordinated effort by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia to combat the increasing array of cyber threats.

Evil Corp, previously hailed as the world’s most dangerous cyber-crime threat, has long been under international scrutiny. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) described the group as one of the key players in Russia’s cyber-criminal ecosystem, accused of carrying out not only criminal activity but also espionage for Russian intelligence. “Today’s sanctions send a clear message to the Kremlin that we will not tolerate Russian cyber-attacks—whether from the state itself or its cyber-criminal ecosystem,” stated UK Foreign Minister David Lammy in a statement.

A cybercrime syndicate has long been the scourge of the world’s law enforcement agencies. Last year, it had already indicted and sanctioned Evil Corp’s chief, Maksim Yakubets, who regularly flaunted his luxurious indulgences, including driving a Lamborghini. As if all that wasn’t enough, the U.S. Government has also put a bounty on his arrest at $5 million for any information leading to his detention. 

According to the NCA, Yakubets has close ties with Russian intelligence agencies, including the FSB (Federal Security Service), SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service), and the GRU, the military intelligence unit.

New evidence has emerged from NCA regarding the involvement of Evil Corp in cyber-attacks and espionage operations that targeted NATO countries. According to the sources, this was done by Russian intelligence on other orders, which made things complex by bringing in the group’s involvement in state-sponsored cyber warfare. Moreover, Yakubets’ father-in-law, Eduard Benderskiy, has been detained because he was a former senior FSB officer for covering up the group reactions because of U.S. action in 2019.

Evil Corp has also maintained strong connections with LockBit, another ransomware syndicate that has targeted high-profile organisations, including Boeing, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the UK’s Royal Mail. Western law enforcement agencies successfully disrupted some of LockBit’s activities earlier this year. One of Ryzhenkov’s associates in ransomware attacks against numerous organisations was classified as a LockBit affiliate.

According to James Babbage, Director General for Threats at the NCA, the operation “is one of the most significant and was carried out in conjunction with wide-reaching and highly sophisticated NCA investigations into two of the most harmful cyber-crime groups of all time.”

The sanctions package has also imposed asset freezes and travel bans against some of Evil Corp’s top figures: Maksim Yakubets, Artem Yakubets, and Viktor Yakubets. The United States Department of Justice further indicted Ryzhenkov for his role in deploying ransomware known as BitPaymer, which targeted victims in Texas and across the country.

Today’s indictment against Ryzhenkov spells out how he and his conspirators stole sensitive information from innocent Americans and then demanded ransom. With our law enforcement partners worldwide, we will continue to put victims first and show these criminals that, in the end, they will be the ones paying for their crimes.

The sanctions and the indictments represent the international community’s intent to break cyber-crime networks and bring perpetrators of global cyberattacks to book.