An Iranian nationwide has pleaded responsible within the U.S. over his involvement in a world ransomware and extortion scheme involving the Robbinhood ransomware.
Sina Gholinejad (aka Sina Ghaaf), 37, and his co-conspirators are mentioned to have breached the pc networks of assorted organizations in america and encrypted recordsdata with Robbinhood ransomware to demand Bitcoin ransom funds.
Gholinejad, who was arrested in North Carolina in early January, pleaded responsible to 1 depend of laptop fraud and abuse and one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces a most penalty of 30 years in jail. He’s scheduled for sentencing in August 2025.
“These cyber assaults brought on important disruptions and tens of thousands and thousands in losses, together with to the Metropolis of Greenville, North Carolina, and the Metropolis of Baltimore, Maryland,” the U.S. Division of Justice (DoJ) mentioned.
“Baltimore misplaced greater than $19 million from the injury brought on to their laptop networks and the ensuing disruption to a number of important metropolis providers, together with on-line providers for processing property taxes, water payments, parking citations, and different revenue-generating features, which lasted many months.”
Based on court docket paperwork, Gholinejad and others infiltrated and maintained unauthorized entry to sufferer laptop networks between January 2019 and March 2024, after which delicate data was copied to digital non-public servers below their management and deployed the ransomware pressure.
The ill-gotten proceeds have been laundered by means of cryptocurrency mixing providers and by shifting property between several types of cryptocurrencies, a method referred to as chain-hopping. The risk actors additionally hid their identities and actions by utilizing digital non-public networks and servers.
Robbinhood was one of many cybercrime actors to latch onto convey your individual susceptible driver (BYOVD) assaults, using a official however susceptible Gigabyte driver (gdrv.sys) to escalate privileges and disarm safety software program.
“Cybercrime is just not a victimless offense – it’s a direct assault on our communities, as seen on this case. Gholinejad and his co-conspirators orchestrated a ransomware scheme that disrupted lives, companies, and native governments, and resulted in losses of tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from unsuspecting victims and establishments,” mentioned performing U. S. Legal professional Daniel P. Bubar for the Japanese District of North Carolina.
