Two former cybersecurity experts pled guilty to conspiracy to obstruct commerce by extortion and are set to be sentenced up to 20 years in prison each for attacking several U.S. companies with ransomware and holding their data hostage for up to $10 million. BleepingComputer reported that the two offenders were former employees of Sygnia and DigitalMint — cybersecurity incident response firms that help companies that have been affected by ransomware and other cyberattacks.
“These defendants used their sophisticated cybersecurity training and experience to commit ransomware attacks — the very type of crime that they should have been working to stop,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement. “Extortion via the internet victimizes innocent citizens every bit as much as taking money directly out of their pockets. The Department of Justice is committed to using all tools available to identify and arrest perpetrators of ransomware attacks wherever we have jurisdiction.”
