Russian Hacker Sentenced to 2 Years for TA551 Botnet-Driven Ransomware Attacks

A U.S. Department of Justice-backed report describes the sentencing of Ilya Angelov for co-managing TA551, a Russia-based criminal group that built and monetized a botnet via phishing and malware (notably MOUSEISLAND and PHOTOLOADER) to sell access to ransomware operators; TA551’s access enabled BitPaymer to infect 72 U.S. companies (over $14.17M in extortion) and was also used by IcedID and other ransomware actors.