Pavel “Red-Eye” Vrublevsky

Pavel Olegovich Vrublevsky  is a Russian, owner, and general manager of the processing company ChronoPay. He is also the founder of investment company RNP and a Russian Forbes contributor on matters relating to blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and cybersecurity. He was also implicated in a range of criminal cases related to hacking.

Dubbed the ‘Red Eye’, he is most known for his involvement in the RussiaGate hacking scandal. Even by his 20s and 30s, he was making as much money as professional sports players. While three of his other hacker friends, Peter Levashov, Roman Seleznev, and Jevgenij Nikulin had gotten caught while on vacation, Pavel managed to evade the authorities. He is currently residing in Moscow.

Roman Seleznev

Roman Valerevich Seleznev is a Russian computer hacker. Famously known by his hacker name, Track2. His activities are estimated to have caused more than $169 million in damages to businesses and financial institutions.

His signature crime was stealing credit-card numbers from restaurant point-of-sale systems, then selling them on in underground internet forums. Seleznev was living a typically-lavish Russian hacker lifestyle, roaming around on the streets of Moscow in his favorite cars, even taking photos in Red Square.

However, he couldn’t evade the police for too long. Seleznev was indicted in the United States in 2011 and was convicted of hacking into servers to steal credit-card data. Seleznev was arrested on July 5, 2014, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for wire fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and identity theft.

Yevgeniy Nikulin

Yevgeniy Alexandrovich Nikulin is a Russian computer hacker and has recently been in the news following his request for appeal. He was arrested in Prague in October 2016, and was charged with the hacking and data theft of several U.S. technology companies. In September 2020, he was sentenced to 88 months in prison.

n 2012, Nikulin was alleged to be part of a criminal clique involving a Ukrainian national, Oleksandr Ieremenko. He is known primarily for his involvement in the LinkedIn data theft scandal. Czech police arrested Nikulin in Prague on October 5, 2016, in connection with the 2012 hacking and data theft of LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring.

On September 29, 2020, Nikulin was sentenced to 88 months in prison though he pled ‘not guilty’ to all the charges against him. His lawyers have revealed that they would try to appeal for bail.

Maksim Yakubets

Maksim Viktorovich Yakubets is a 32-year-old  Russian national and a computer expert. He is alleged to have been a member of the Jabber Zeus Crew, as well as the alleged leader of the Bugat (Trojan horse) malware conspiracy.

He was indicted on Thursday by US authorities. He’s charged with carrying out “two separate international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes” across the last 10 years, which have allegedly siphoned millions of dollars from UK citizens into the coffers of Evil Corp.

Since Yakubets resides in Russia, the indictments won’t impact him unless he leaves the country. “If Yakubets ever leaves the safety of Russia,” the UK National Crime Agency said, “he will be arrested and extradited to the US.”

For now, Yakubets still lives in Russia and is apparently living it up alongside his cohorts. When they’re not driving his custom Lamborghinis, or taking videos of a lion cub roaming an ornate rug, they’re posing for photos with wads of cash.

He is one among the famously known hacker group “Evil Corp”.

Igor Klopov

Klopov is just a 24-years old Moscow State University graduate. He cleverly used the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans to find his targets. Then, from his laptop in Moscow, he hired American accomplices, promising them cash, stays in five-star hotels and limousines. Using what prosecutors later called “a combination of internet smarts and old-fashioned techniques, like forging driver’s licenses”, Klopov and his accomplices stole $1.5 million.

 

Him, along with a few of his friends attempted to steal $10 million more when they were caught. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2007.

 

He was one of the first and youngest hackers to make global headlines.