U.S. authorities announce $3 million bounty for Russian hacker

Evgeniy Bogachev. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/verge)

The U.S. State Department and FBI announced Tuesday they are offering a $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Evgeniy Bogachev, a Russian national who was the alleged administrator of a computer attack network called GameOver Zeus.

The reward is the highest ever offered by U.S. authorities in a cyber case, Reuters reports. Bogachev has been charged by federal authorities in Pittsburgh with conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, computer hacking, and money laundering in connection with GameOver Zeus, which allegedly stole more than $100 million from bank accounts online. Bogachev is also facing federal bank fraud conspiracy charges in Omaha, in connection to his alleged involvement in an earlier malware called Jabber Zeus. The FBI believes he is currently in Russia.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.