A Russian national was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in U.S. prison for using sophisticated malware known as "Citadel" to steal banking information from thousands of computers, authorities said.
Dimitry Belorossov, 22, of St. Petersburg, had pleaded guilty in July 2014 to one count of conspiring to commit computer fraud for his role in a $500 million global cyber crime scheme that infected more than 11 million computers worldwide.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash in Atlanta imposed the sentence, which also requires Belorossov to pay more than $320,000 in restitution.
Belorossov's lawyer, Arkady Bukh, said his client was only a teenager at the time of his crime but had taken responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty.
Belorossov could be released in a little more than a year after getting credit for the time he has already spent in custody, Bukh said.
Citadel was designed to capture banking and credit card information from computers and had the ability to block antivirus software. Criminals installed the malware through malicious attachments and allegedly used it to steal more than $500 million from dozens of financial institutions.
