USA incarcerates Russian Hacker

Why has hacker been sentenced for 27 years?

On the 22^nd of April 2017, a Federal Judge in the United States handed out the longest ever sentence imposed in the United States for a hacking-related case. The man indicted is 32-year-old Roman Valerevich Seleznev who was found guilty in the state of Washington but still needs to stand trial in Georgia and Nevada. He was apprehended in 2014 whilst holidaying in the Maldives.

What crimes did Seleznev commit?

Seleznev has been found guilty many crime such as nine counts of hacking and 10 counts of wire fraud. In August, last year he was found guilty of 38 counts by federal prosecutors. For 15 years before his arrest, Seleznev terrorized people online by hacking into private payment systems and stealing highly confidential information from users. He used Bali and Vladivostok as his home bases and began selling all the classified information he stole to the highest bidder. He used the black market and the deep web to sell over two million credit card numbers and identities. He effected over 500 businesses and 3,700 financial institutions. Seleznev was in possession of over 2.9 million credit card numbers at the time of his arrest and his hacking resulted in a total loss of over 200 million to all the businesses and institutions affected. He was ordered by the court to pay back 170 million in reimbursement to those companies affected. He was known to have lived a flamboyant ostentatious lifestyle of luxurious holidays, expensive cars and only the finest clothes & accessories.

What does this mean in the global hacking scheme?

The internet has long been compared to the wild west or the open ocean, free for hackers to roam and do what they wish. But the ruling against Seleznev has set the precedent that at least the USA will seek to prosecute hackers and will even go the extremes of sending teams to places like the Maldives to track and contain any threats.  Hackers now must understand that when their cover is blown and information of their identity is made apparent to the public, they cannot maintain the same lifestyles and will be found by the associated authorities. Seleznev’s traffic and identity ring was one of the largest ever discovered but there are larger rackets on the internet.

In political terms, it also sends out the message to Russian hackers amidst the CIA’s investigation into Russian interference in the last American election. The government waited for Seleznev to leave Russia and then went after him. If any collusion is found between the Russians and the elections, the USA will go after the guilty party. Seleznev is also the son of a current member of the Russian parliament so it sends an added message to the people of Russia.

Assessment

The precedent has been set by the judicial decision to indict Seleznev and shows the attitude of the American supreme courts towards hacking. Cybercrime has increased rapidly since the turn of the century but appropriate legal theory has not evolved with it. Seleznev’s case could be considered a landmark in the scheme of things and might dissuade certain cyber actors from hacks and such in the future.