Aleksandr Viktorovich Ryzhenkov (Александр Викторович Рыженков), 31, of Russia uses several aliases including Anonyminem, Guester, G, J.d.m0rr1s0n, Jim Morrison, Kotosel, Lizardking and Mrakobek. Born in Uzbekistan, he is known to be a close associate of alleged Russian cyber criminal Maksim “AQUA” Yakubets.
Ryzhenkov is 5’9″ tall. He weighs 160 pounds.
What crime did Aleksandr Ryzhenkov commit?
Beginning in at least June 2017, Ryzhenkov allegedly gained unauthorized access to the information stored on the computer networks of numerous people residing in Texas, United States and throughout the U.S. He and his conspirators allegedly deployed the strain of ransomware known as BitPaymer, which they used to encrypt the files of their victims’ companies, rendering them inaccessible.
Through electronic notes left on the victims’ systems, Ryzhenkov and his conspirators allegedly demanded that victims pay a ransom to obtain a decryption key and prevent their sensitive information from being published online. The notes provided a virtual currency address to use to pay the ransom.
On March 22, 2023, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Ryzhenkov in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas in Dallas, Texas. He was charged with intentional damage to a protected computer, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers and transmitting a demand in relation to damaging a protected computer.
On October 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Ryzhenkov with using the BitPaymer ransomware variant to attack numerous victims and hold their sensitive data for ransom. The U.S. Department of the Treasury‘s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that he was added to its list of specially designated nationals.
CONAN Daily 