Broker who sold malware to the FBI set for sentencing

Feras Khalil Ahmad Albashiti (alias r1z) pleaded guilty to operating as an initial access broker in 2023, selling IPs, firewall bypass instructions, EDR-disabling malware, and privilege-escalation tools to buyers (including an undercover FBI agent) that enabled attacks on at least 50 U.S. companies; his activity has been tied to a ransomware incident causing $50M in losses and he faces sentencing in May 2026.