Federal prosecutors extradite alleged leader of BlackBD.cc cybercrime marketplace

Authorities arrested Kosovo citizen Liridon Masurica in late 2024. He faces six charges that could keep him behind bars for 55 years.

Liridon Masurica, the alleged lead administrator of cybercrime marketplace BlackDB.cc, was extradited to the United States on Friday and faces charges that carry a maximum penalty of 55 years in federal prison, the Justice Department said Tuesday. 

Masurica, 33, who is also known as “@blackdb,” was arrested by authorities in Kosovo on Dec. 12. He made his initial appearance in federal court in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday and was ordered detained pending a trial. 

Federal prosecutors charged Masurica with one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and five counts of fraudulent use of 15 or more unauthorized access devices.

Masurica, of Gjilan, Kosovo, is accused of running BlackDB.cc since 2018. The cybercriminal marketplace offered to sell compromised account and server credentials, credit card information and other personally identifiable information of individuals mostly located in the United States, the DOJ said.

Cybercriminals used information illegally purchased on BlackDB.cc to facilitate multiple crimes, including tax fraud, credit card fraud and identity theft, prosecutors said. Some alleged victims live in the region served by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, where Masurica is under detention and faces trial.

The FBI led the investigation into the cybercrime marketplace and Masurica’s alleged involvement with support from the Kosovo Police’s Cybercrime Investigation Directorate. The Republic of Kosovo, of which Masurica is a citizen, has an extradition treaty with the United States. 

Authorities said the FBI’s Legal Attaché Office in Sofia, Bulgaria, the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs and Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo also provided significant assistance resulting in Masurica’s arrest and extradition. 

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

• FBI raises alarm over deceptive phishing campaign targeting prominent people

• McKesson copes with fallout from data theft extortion attack

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure