Ransomware cyberattacks | Quebec pirate sentenced to 20 years in prison in Florida

A drug trafficker and former federal employee from Gatineau has just been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Florida for ransomware attacks that earned him at least 21.5 million US dollars.

Hugo Joncas
The Press

The sentence pronounced against Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins, considered one of the worst cyberpirates in the world, is particularly severe. The Tampa judge who pronounced it decided to exceed the 11 to 14 years in prison provided for by the directives of American justice for such crimes.

Vachon-Desjardins, 35, was arrested in January 2021 for his cybercrimes, before being extradited, then pleading guilty last June. In doing so, this former employee of the Ministry of Public Services and Supply admits to being one of the most active hackers behind Netwalker.

This ransomware was one of the worst in the world. Now dismantled, it was used to extort tens of millions from hundreds of victims. The targets had their servers infiltrated, then the hackers stole their data, before encrypting it. They then demanded a ransom from them to give them back access to their information, like the other ransomware that is still rampant.

“The attacks specifically targeted the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to take advantage of the global crisis to extort money from the victims,” explains a letter from Florida prosecutor Maria Chapa Lopez on file. .

Court documents link Vachon-Desjardins to several attacks in the United States, including the one suffered by the University of California, San Francisco. The establishment paid a ransom of 1.14 million US dollars to regain access to its data in June 2020.

Last January, an Ontario court had already sentenced Vachon-Desjardins to six years and eight months in prison for cyberattacks committed against 17 Canadian targets, including the Cégep de Saint-Félicien and the City of Montmagny.

91 attacks

Vachon-Desjardins allegedly carried out no less than 91 computer attacks, according to an analysis by the New York analysis firm Chainanalysis, which helped the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to investigate his activities.

Using computers seized from his home on Desforges Street in Gatineau, the RCMP was able to recover 720 bitcoins, with an estimated value of around 50 million in May 2021. After the price of this cryptocurrency fell, this loot still worth nearly 20 million, as of October 4.

In all, a hoard worth 130 million passed through his wallets, according to the RCMP investigation.

The federal police also got their hands on $715,150 in cash at his home and in safe deposit boxes rented from banks.

Most Prolific Affiliate

Police documents identify Vachon-Desjardins as the most active “affiliate” of the massive Netwalker network. Its role was to spot high value targets before attacking them.

Cybercriminals left hacked computers with a ransom note, and if the target agreed to pay, Netwalker developers and affiliates like it shared the spoils.

Chainanalysis estimates that he was able to pocket 80% of the sums withdrawn. To collect his winnings, Vachon-Desjardins would have opened 345 bitcoin “addresses”, accounts to exchange this cryptocurrency.

Netwalker has claimed many victims in Quebec. Among them are Sollio (the former Coop fédérée), the IT company Xpertdoc and a subsidiary of the MTY restaurant chain, in particular.

Notorious drug trafficker

Vachon-Desjardins is far from having its first serious trouble with the law. He was sentenced last January to a four and a half year prison sentence for drug trafficking, while awaiting extradition to the United States.

He had already received a first sentence of three and a half years in prison in 2015 for drug trafficking.

At the time, Gatineau police seized no less than 137 lbs of marijuana, 60,756 methamphetamine tablets, nearly 9 kg of hashish, 146 g of cocaine, 13,627 ecstasy tablets and $24,000 from his home. of “crystal meth”.