Kryuchkov Egor Igorevich

Kryuchkov Egor Igorevich

Biography

2020

Attempt to give a bribe of $1 million to a Tesla employee for a cyber attack on the company

Yegor Kryuchkov, who, as stated in the US Department of Justice detained on suspicion of trying to organize a cyber attack on American company, prepared it in relation to the manufacturer electric vehicles Tesla. About this head of Tesla Elon Musk August 28, 2020 wrote in his Twitter blog, reacting to the article of the portal Teslarati.

The publication said that the company not named by the Ministry of Justice was a plant Tesla in Nevada. Her employee refused the offered bribe for introducing the virus into computers and turned to the FBI.

Much obliged. It was a serious attack, "Musk wrote without further comment.

Arrested Yegor Kryuchkov tried to give $1 million to a Tesla employee for a cyber attack on the company

It is worth noting that the Teslarati note does not contain any evidence of such allegations and cited as a source reports of other media. The publication says that Kryuchkov contacted with a Russian-speaking Tesla employee and talked with him for several days, then offered a deal - a million dollars in exchange for installation malware to the computer network of the Tesla plant in Nevada, to which An unnamed employee had access. He promised to consider the proposal.

Yegor Kryuchkov is a graduate of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University named after Peter the Great, confirmed [[Russia Today 'RIA News]] at the university.

Tesla previously had problems with one of the employees - the technician of that the same Nevada battery factory Gigafactor Martin Tripp. He was accused of espionage and sabotage, including Transfer of classified information to third parties. The company filed a lawsuit against Tripp, stating that he organized a "sabotage campaign," writing a computer program that allowed access to secret multi-gigabyte data. He sold the information to three buyers.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}]

Arrest on charges of bribe of $1 million

On August 25, 2020, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of 27-year-old Russian Yegor Kryuchkov, who is suspected of bribing an employee of an American company to infect its systems with a computer virus.

It follows from the agency's message that Kryuchkov, who arrived in the United States on a tourist visa, tried to collude with an employee of an unnamed company in Nevada from July 15 to August 22, 2020. The Russian offered him a bribe of $1 million for installing malicious software on his working computer, the ministry noted. According to the investigation, so the Russian was going to gain access to data from the company's systems, threaten their publication and demand a ransom.

Kryuchkov entered the United States on a Russian passport and tourist visa. After he was contacted by employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he left the city of Reno in Nevada to Los Angeles, where he asked his friend to buy him a plane ticket from the country, the agency said.

Russian Yegor Kryuchkov arrested on charges of bribing $1 million to an employee in exchange for installing a virus in an American company

The investigation was carried out by employees of the FBI offices in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Sacramento with the support of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Division of the Criminal Administration (CCIPS). Assistant US Attorney Richard Casper and senior CCIPS adviser K.S. Heath represent the prosecution in court.

Kryuchkov was arrested by decision of the Federal Court of Los Angeles. He is charged with organizing a conspiracy to commit a cybercrime.

The press service of the Russian embassy in Washington told Interfax that Yegor Kryuchkov, who was arrested in the United States, would be provided with the necessary consular and legal assistance.

The embassy is aware of what happened. In the near future, we will contact the Russian to find out the substance of the problem. We will provide him with the necessary consular and legal assistance, "the diplomatic mission said.[6]

2021

Plea to cyber attack on Tesla

On March 18, 2021, the Nevada federal prosecutor's office issued a statement according to which Yegor Kryuchkov pleaded guilty to a hacker attack on IT systems. Tesla

A Russian citizen today in federal court pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel to the United States to hire an employee of a company in Nevada in order to install malicious software into the company's computer network, the document says.

Egor Kryuchkov

It also says that Yegor Kryuchkov pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally damaging a protected computer. The Russian will be sentenced on May 10, 2021. He  faces up to five years in prison , a fine of $250 000 and deportation from the United States after serving his sentence. 

Earlier, Kryuchkov  denied any involvement in  this case,  and his relatives said that Kryuchkov  was not related  to the field of information technology  and had never  been involved in programming.

The message does not indicate which company is in question, but Tesla founder Elon Musk previously stated that his corporation was the target of the attack. In Nevada , Tesla's electric vehicle battery plant is located. 

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Intelligence Bureau (FBI) offices in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sacramento  and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office in Nevada, according to a report from the US Department of Justice.

The rapid reaction of the company and the FBI prevented the large theft of the data of the victim company and stopped the extortion scheme from the very beginning. This case emphasizes the importance of companies contacting law enforcement agencies,  the words of Acting  Assistant Attorney General Nicholas  McQuaid of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice are quoted in the message.[7]

Punishment for trying to organize a cyber attack on Tesla

At the end of May 2021, a Nevada court sentenced Yegor Kryuchkov to 10 months in prison for trying to organize a cyber attack on Tesla. Also, the Russian will have to compensate for the cost of conducting an internal investigation in the amount of $14 825.

Since Kryuchkov has already spent more than 10 months under arrest, he will not have to sit in prison. Initially, a 27-year-old young man was threatened with up to five years in prison and a fine of $250 thousand.

However, the court admitted that the hacking attempt was unsuccessful, and the accused himself made a deal with the investigation, so he was credited with the time served.

Russian Yegor Kryuchkov received a prison sentence in the United States for trying to hack Tesla computers

I regret my decision, I understand that this was a bad decision, "Kryuchkov told the court in Nevada through an interpreter.

He also stated that he most regretted the experiences he had caused to his own family. Yegor Kryuchkov will be deported from the United States, until the moment of deportation he will be in custody. If Kryuchkov returns to the United States, federal surveillance will be established for a three-year period. In addition, the Russian agreed not to mention the name of the company during the trial.

There is no doubt that this is a serious crime, "said District Judge Miranda Du.

She expressed concern about cyber fraud in the United States and other countries. Fortunately, the plan failed, she added.

The court materials say that the hack was conceived by Kryuchkov as a distributed denial of service attack, using unnecessary data to fill the Tesla computer system. The first attack was to be followed by the second to extract data from the company's network and demand a ransom. Other conspirators in court documents are nicknamed. They mention another attempt to break into another unnamed company.^[8]

Notes