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Russian Man Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting Freelancers
A Russian national was extradited to the US for allegedly spreading TVRAT and DarkVNC malware to 80,000 freelance platform users via Excel attachments.
Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev, 40, was arrested in Cyprus in May 2025, extradited on August 28, 2026, and indicted on conspiracy, computer damage, unauthorized access and aggravated identity theft charges. Prosecutors say he and co-conspirators used about 255 fake accounts on a freelance employment platform's messaging system to send macro-laden Excel attachments between June 2016 and November 2017, deploying TVRAT (TVSPY/TeamSpy) and DarkVNC remote access trojans. Thousands of victims were identified on a US-hosted C2 domain, with roughly half of the 80,000 affected users in the US; C2 infrastructure was paid for with virtual currency. If convicted he faces up to 20 years for wire fraud conspiracy plus additional terms and fines.
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Russian man indicted for spreading malware to 80,000 freelancers
US prosecutors indicted a Russian national for infecting roughly 80,000 freelancers with TVRAT and DarkVNC malware via fake freelance-platform accounts.
Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev, 40, was indicted in California for conspiracy, transmission of malicious code, and aggravated identity theft; he was arrested in Cyprus in May 2025 and extradited in August 2026. From June 2016 to November 2017, about 255 fake accounts on a Northern California freelance platform messaged roughly 80,000 users with malicious Excel attachments that ran macros to download malware. The campaign deployed TVRAT (also known as TeamSpy), which exploited a TeamViewer flaw, and DarkVNC via VNC Viewer, exfiltrating stolen data to US-hosted command-and-control servers. About half the victims were in the US, and stolen credentials were used for fraud.
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⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips [3 February]
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Week in review: Google fixes yet another Chrome zero-day exploit, YouTube as a cybercrime channel
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