FBI and Department of Justice Unsealed Today’s indictment filed multiple charges against 31-year-old Canadian Matthew Philbert for his involvement in several ransomware attacks.
Ontario Police Officer hold A press conference on Tuesday announced the charges and Philbert’s arrest in Ottawa.
In a statementU.S. Attorney for the Alaska region, Brian Wilson, stated that Philbert “conspired with other people, known and unknown in the United States, to destroy computers, and in the course of the conspiracy, in April 2018, they did damage computers belonging to the state of Alaska. “Wilson and Canadian officials pointed out that they received help from the Dutch authorities and Europol in this case.
Canadian officials also announced the charges against Philbert, stating that he was arrested on November 30. The officials did not specify which ransomware organization Philbert was part of, nor did he specify which attacks he was responsible for.
Chuck Cox, deputy commissioner of the Ontario Police Department, said: “Cybercriminals are opportunistic and they will target any business or individual they consider vulnerable.”
The charges facing Philbert include one count of conspiracy to defraud and another count of computer-related fraud and related activities.
At the press conference, Cox said that the FBI contacted Ontario officials about Philbert’s activities, including ransomware attacks on businesses, government agencies, and private citizens.
When Philbert was arrested, the police said they confiscated several laptops, hard drives, blank cards with magnetic strips, and a Bitcoin seed phrase.
In January of this year, the Florida State Police Arrested Another Canadian citizen is linked to several attacks Netwalker Ransomware group.The U.S. Department of Justice claims that Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins successfully earned approximately US$27.6 million through several ransomware attacks on Canadian organizations such as the Northwest Territories Electric Company, Ontario Nursing College, and a Canadian tire shop in British Columbia.
Emsisoft threat analyst and Canadian ransomware expert Brett Callow told ZDNet that most people believe that ransomware attacks come from Russia or the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Although the ransomware may be “made” in these countries, Carlo pointed out that the individuals using it to attack can be located anywhere.
“In fact, ransomware can make a lot of money. It would be very surprising if people from countries such as Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom did not enter the market. However, these people may not sleep well at night more often than in the past. In the past, the probability of them being prosecuted for crimes was almost zero, but this situation has finally begun to change,” Carlo said.
