×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Monday
12
Jan 2026
weather symbol
Athens 6°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> World

How Russia’s war in Ukraine helped the FBI crack one of the biggest cybercrime cases in years

Investigators nabbed a key figure behind malware program Raccoon Infostealer in the Netherlands after he fled the fighting in Ukraine

Newsroom November 2 08:00

Three weeks after Russia started dropping bombs on Ukraine in late February, a talented young computer programmer named Mark Sokolovsky climbed into a Porsche Cayenne with his girlfriend to get away from the fighting.

The pair made their way through Poland and then Germany before stopping in the Netherlands, where they thought they were safe. Little did they know that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and investigators in Europe had been watching them all along.

Sokolovsky, 26, had been named late last year in a sealed criminal indictment in federal court in Texas that alleged he was a key figure behind a pervasive type of malware known as Raccoon Infostealer that prosecutors say has infected millions of computers around the world, stealing financial login credentials and money from an untold number of victims.

See Also:

SpaceX successfully launches Falcon Heavy for the fourth time ever

>Related articles

Who are the Basij militias who are spreading terror among protesters in Iran?

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church: Feeding the Homeless – Sunday, January 18

Hits on Russian Lukoil oil platforms from Ukraine

Days after Sokolovsky crossed into the country, Dutch police arrested him in Amsterdam on charges of computer fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted and remains in custody in the Netherlands while fighting an extradition proceeding that would send him to the U.S.

Messages left with Niels Van Schaik, the Dutch attorney representing Sokolovsky in his extradition proceeding, weren’t immediately returned.

Read more: Market Watch

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#crime#cybercrime#FBI#russia#ukraine#usa#world
> More World

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

JPMorgan: Greek bonds passed the convergence test, and investors are repositioning

January 12, 2026

Who are the Basij militias who are spreading terror among protesters in Iran?

January 12, 2026

Marinakis: There will be two meetings with farmers, the Prime Minister cannot work with ultimatums

January 12, 2026

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church: Feeding the Homeless – Sunday, January 18

January 12, 2026

Who is Maria Gratsia, the right hand of Maria Karystianou

January 12, 2026

Rent reimbursement: On 15 January, the money is credited to the beneficiaries

January 12, 2026

The report on the blackout, the Papastavrou–Eric Trump meeting in Riyadh, Jumbo will also sell cigarettes, the One and Only and the permits

January 12, 2026

Passports: Deadline until January 31 for the old process — Which documents are being abolished

January 12, 2026
All News

> Culture

Golden Globes: Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ and Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ dominate the awards

Hamnet won the award for best drama motion picture

January 12, 2026

Bob Weir, co-founder of the Grateful Dead, dies at 78

January 11, 2026

How the “civilized” Americans exterminated the “barbarian” Apache Indians:The ten-year war that began with a misunderstanding

January 11, 2026

Audiovisual production in Greece is a driver of economic growth, with revenues of almost €1 billion according to an SPI study

January 8, 2026

Giannis Voglis’s awards found in the trash – what the actor’s son says

January 8, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα