Clinton J. Johnson U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma
A significant international operation has led to the dismantling of a botnet and the indictment of four foreign nationals for conspiracy and other computer-related crimes, according to U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. The unsealed domain seizure warrant and indictment highlight the charges against Russian nationals Alexey Viktorovich Chertkov, Kirill Vladimirovich Morozov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shishkin, and Kazakhstani national Dmitriy Rubtsov.
The individuals face charges of conspiracy and damage to protected computers for their roles in operating botnet services known as Anyproxy and 5socks. The indictment details how the accused allegedly infected older-model wireless internet routers globally with malware without the owners' consent. This allowed unauthorized access by reconfiguring routers into proxy servers sold on websites Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net.
These websites were managed by a Virginia-based company but hosted on global computer servers. Additional documents show that 5socks.net advertised over 7,000 proxies worldwide, including in the U.S., with subscription fees ranging from $9.95 to $110 monthly. Since its inception in 2004, the defendants reportedly generated more than $46 million through this scheme.
Chertkov and Rubtsov face further charges for falsely registering domain names during these activities. They allegedly misrepresented themselves when acquiring domains related to their operations.
The FBI's Oklahoma City Cyber Task Force discovered malware installations on business and residential routers in Oklahoma without user awareness. As part of a coordinated effort involving the Eastern District of Virginia, Northern District of Oklahoma, and international law enforcement agencies, domain names Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net were seized by authorities.
Prosecution is being led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Jiang and Christopher J. Nassar from the Northern District of Oklahoma alongside Ryan K.J. Dickey and Jane Lee from the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The Justice Department's investigation involved collaboration with multiple jurisdictions such as the Dutch National Police – Amsterdam Region, Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie), Royal Thai Police, and support from Black Lotus Labs at Lumen Technologies, Inc.
It is important to note that an indictment represents an allegation; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
