US Treasury Sanctions Russian Exploit Broker Over Stolen Government Cyber Tools

• The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Russian cyber broker for selling stolen U.S. government hacking tools.
• The stolen cyber tools were allegedly sold for $1.3 million in cryptocurrency payments.

The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the Russian cyber broker who was accused of selling and buying U.S. government tools. The U.S. government has used the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act law for the first time, which is designed to punish the theft and sale of sensitive American technology. This sanction targets Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk and Matrix LLC, his St. Petersburg-based company, also known as Operation Zero. 

Stolen Cyber Tools

According to the U.S. authorities, Operation Zero obtained at least eight classified cyber tools that were built exclusively for the U.S. government. These were stolen by Peter William, who is an Australian national and a former employee of the U.S. defense contractor. Prosecutors said that Williams sold the stolen cyber tools to Operation Zero in exchange for $1.3 million in cryptocurrency payments. Later, William pleaded guilty in October to two counts of trade secret theft. 

The U.S. State Department confirmed that the stolen tools included zero-day exploits, which are particularly dangerous because they target unknown software vulnerabilities before the companies fix them. The treasury sanctioned Oleg Vyacheslavovich Kucherov, allegedly linked to the Trickbot cybercrime group, and Marina Evgenyevna Vasanovich, described as Zelenyuk’s assistant. 

Treasury officials said that Operation Zero also worked on the spyware and AI tools capable of extracting personal data. The sanctions freeze any U.S.-based assets connected to the individuals and prohibit Americans from conducting business with them. This case shows the growing concern about the theft of U.S. cyber defense tools.

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