We previously reported that alleged Ukranian hacker Sergey Vovnenko, also known as “Flycracker,” “Fly” and “Darklife” was extradited from Italy, arrested and charged in New Jersey federal court for his part in disbursing the nasty malware Zeus on October 13.
During his arraignment last week, he plead not guilty to charges, including wire fraud conspiracy, unauthorized computer access and aggravated identity theft. He is being detained without bail.
Another hacker from Kosovo, who is well known to law enforcement, 20-year-old Ardit Ferizi, known as “Th3Dir3ctorY,” has been arrested in Malaysia.
Ferizi is alleged to have stolen the data of 1,351 U.S. military and government personnel, which he then turned around and gave to a member of the Islamic State group, who then posted a 30-page document on Twitter which contained the demographic and location information of the individuals. The Twitter message stated “NEW: U.S. Military AND Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!”
Ferizi was arrested when he traveled to Malaysia to study computer science at a private university. Sounds like he would have gotten an easy A in that course.
The U.S. is seeking extradition of Ferizi for prosecution. If found guilty, he faces up to 35 years in jail.
Kudos to the DOJ for its continued progress in bringing these hackers to justice.