"Zeus, IcedID Malware Gangs Leader Pleads Guilty, Faces 40 Years in Prison"
Ukrainian national Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, one of the heads of the notorious JabberZeus cybercrime gang, has recently pleaded guilty to charges related to his leadership roles in the Zeus and IcedID malware groups. Penchukov (also known as "tank" and "father") was arrested in Switzerland in October 2022 while traveling to meet his wife in Geneva and extradited to the United States in 2023. The Department of Justice (DoJ) first charged him in 2012 for his involvement in the Zeus malware operation and the theft of millions of dollars using personal identification numbers, bank account numbers, credentials, and other sensitive info stolen from infected devices. Penchukov was also part of the leadership of the IcedID (aka Bokbot) malware operation after being added to the FBI's Cyber Most Wanted List between November 2018 and February 2021. He and his co-conspirators used the malware to steal the victims' sensitive information, including banking account credentials, and to provide other cybercriminals with access to compromised systems to deploy additional malicious payloads like ransomware.