Russians, Ukrainian Charged In Massive U.S. Hacking Case

U.S. prosecutors have charged four Russians and a Ukrainian with the biggest cybercrime in U.S. history.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced the indictments on July 25.

Two Russians -- Dmitry Smilianets and Vladimir Drinkman -- have been in custody since June 2012.

Aleksandr Kalinin and Roman Kotov remain at large along with Ukrainian Mikykhaylo Rytikov.

The five are accused of using the Internet to steal more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers from 2005 to 2012, costing consumers and corporations hundreds of millions of dollars.

Victims included the Nasdaq stock exchange and Visa Inc.

All five are charged with taking part in a computer hacking conspiracy and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The four Russians also are charged with multiple counts of unauthorized computer access and wire fraud.


Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters