Cybersecurity
Google Sues Two Russians for Alleged Organized Crime Scheme
- Complaint says the two created a sophisticated ‘botnet’
- Glupteba sells stolen logins, credit cards, Google says
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Alphabet Inc.’s Google is suing two Russian nationals it claims are part of a criminal enterprise that has silently infiltrated more than a million computers and devices around the world, creating “a modern technological and borderless incarnation of organized crime.”
In a complaint being unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Google names two defendants, Dmitry Starovikov and Alexander Filippov, as well as 15 unnamed individuals. Google claims the defendants have created a “botnet” known as Glupteba, to use for illicit purposes, including the theft and unauthorized use of Google users’ login and account information.