Bulletproof hosting admins plead guilty

The four “bulletproof” hosting admins, immigrants from Eastern Europe, face up to 20 years in prison on charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Two Russian citizens, as well as citizens of Lithuania and Estonia, have already pleaded guilty to administering banned hosting that was used for criminal operations aimed at American organizations.

The hosting, whose name has not been disclosed, was founded by Russian citizens Alexander Grichishkin and Andrey Skvortsov, who then hired Lithuanian Alexander Skorodumov and Estonian Pavel Stassi as system administrator and manager, respectively. Grichishkin and Skvortsov themselves were engaged in marketing, personnel management and customer support, while Skorodumov and Stassi maintained all systems in working order and helped clients – botnet and malware operators.

The US Department of Justice writes that the hosting provided cybercriminals with the infrastructure they used to conduct malicious campaigns between 2008 and 2015.

The hosting also provided other services to customers, including registering new infrastructure using fictitious or stolen identity so that hackers could bypass law enforcement locks and conduct attacks without detection.

Sentences to Stassi, Skorodumov, Grichishkin and Skvortsov will be handed down on June 3, June 29, July 8 and September 16 this year. Each of the four accused persons faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Let me remind you that we wrote that Facebook-Google Scammer Pleads Guilty in $123 Million Theft, as well as that Teenager that hacked Twitter will spend three years in prison.