The US has imposed sanctions on an “exploit broker” from Russia: what is he accused of?
25 February 19:17
The US has announced sanctions against Russian citizen Sergey Zelenyuk and his company Operation Zero, accusing them of stealing and selling secret cyber tools created for the US government and its allies.
The decision was announced bythe US Treasury Department, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Who is an “exploit broker”?
According to the US authorities, since 2021, Zelenyuk has been acting as an exploit broker — an intermediary who buys information about vulnerabilities in popular software, including American-made operating systems and encrypted messengers, and then resells it.
The US Treasury Department claims that Operation Zero acquired at least eight government tools developed exclusively for US agencies and select allies. These tools were reportedly stolen from a US company, and at least one of them was sold to an unauthorized user.
Suspicions of cooperation with special services
The US also claims that Operation Zero attempted to collaborate with foreign intelligence services and develop spyware.
This refers, in particular, to tools for collecting users’ personal data and extracting information from artificial intelligence-based systems.
Who else is under sanctions
In addition to Zelenyuk, restrictions have been imposed on:
- Marina Vasanoch, his assistant;
- Special Technology Services (UAE);
- Azizjon Mamashov;
- Oleg Kucherov;
- Advance Security Solutions, a company founded by Mamashoyev.
The sanctions include freezing assets in US jurisdiction and prohibiting financial transactions with US persons.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russian government hackers had access to the US federal court document storage system for many years and stole confidential materials.
In recent years, Washington has been consistently expanding its sanctions mechanisms against individuals and companies suspected of cyber espionage or trading in hacking tools.
