The hacker behind the Raccoon Stealer malware has been in jail since March 2022, according to an FBI statement. Its software, intended to steal identifiers, is not dead, however, since another variant has already been developed.
End of career for this ambitious criminal. Mark Sokolovsky, 26, of Ukrainian nationality, was arrested in March 2022 in the Netherlands, but the information was only revealed on October 25 by the FBI. The young pirate was stopped at the wheel of his Porsche Cayenne, when he had just fled Ukraine.
This hacker had launched one of the stealers – malware specializing in the theft of identifiers and passwords – the most widely used in the world. Raccoon Stealer is a Trojan horse that anyone could rent for $75 a week or $200 a month on the darknet. In addition to this great price, subscribers also had access to an administrator panel to customize the software and create new variants.
Concretely, the malware was activated in the classic way from a phishing link. The criminal could then infiltrate the “user data” of browsers to recover identifiers, cookies, browsing history. Generally, when you witness the hacking of a famous account on social networks, it is because the community manager or the star concerned has fallen into the trap of a stealer.
A new variant active since June
” FBI agents have identified more than 50 million identifiers (emails, bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, credit card numbers, etc.) among all the data stolen. Millions of potential victims would be affected around the world “said the US Department of Justice. The malware has been active since April 2019.
Cybersecurity companies have noticed that the software is particularly interesting for stealing cryptocurrencies by attacking currency wallets. The FBI has launched a platform to find out if you have been trapped by the Raccoon Stealer.
Is this the death of the raccoon? No, other variants are still active. The original software had already been on hold since March. At the time, members of the hacker collective reported that a developer of the malware had died on the Russian frontline. Note that in the world of criminal hackers, politics is often left aside. It is now known that the service was first suspended following the arrest of its creator.
Then, Raccoon Stealer leaves room for the creativity of pirates to develop new variants. Thus, a new form has been online since June, with the same efficiency. Malware does not disappear with its creator.
