The DOJ announced that Polish national, Artur Karol Grabowski, has been charged with computer fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and international money laundering for providing a webhosting service designed to facilitate ransomware attacks and other criminal activities.
According to the unsealed indictment, Grabowski operated a webhosting company named LolekHosted. In 2014, Grabowski advertised “bulletproof” services to clients looking to engage in criminal activities and provided “100% privacy hosting” for “everything except child porn.” Through LolekHosted’s “bulletproof” services, clients were able to use false information to register accounts and not comply with Internal Protocol (IP) address logs. LolekHosted’s clients were able to frequently change their IP addresses and ignore third party abuse complaints.
LolekHosted also facilitated the NetWalker ransomware variant, which was deployed on approximately 400 victim company networks. NetWalker ransomware attacks against hospitals, school districts, and law enforcement resulted in the payment of more than 5,000 bitcoins valued at approximately $146 million. LolekHosted assisted in the foregoing by allowing clients to store their hacking tools and victim’s stolen data on its server.
The government seized LolekHosted.net on August 8th. Grabowski remains a fugitive for now but faces up to 45 years in prison. The United States is also seeking an order forfeiture of $21.5 million.
The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman have experience representing clients of all types and sizes who have experienced a data breach, other cyber security incidents, and litigation as a result of such an incident. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.