The FBI arrested the Russian, who led the hacker trading platform in the US

The FBI has arrested a Russian citizen who is believed to be behind Deer.io, a Shopify-like platform that hosts online stores where hackers advertise and sell hacked accounts and stolen data. Writes about this ZD Net.

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A suspect named Kirill Viktorovich Firsov was arrested on Saturday, March 7, at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

U.S. officials say Firsov has been managing and managing the Deer.io platform since its launch in October 2013.

It is believed that on a platform that allows users to host online stores with a subscription worth about $ 12 per month, more than 24 stores are registered, and the site’s revenues are more than $ 000 million.

However, according to the FBI, despite the ability to host legitimate businesses, the Deer.io platform was used almost entirely for cybercrime.

“To date, law enforcement has not identified a legitimate business advertising its services or products on DEER.IO,” the FBI said.

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The FBI reports that they browsed over 250 online stores hosted on Deer.io and found stores selling access to hacked accounts, hacked servers and personal information of Internet users, such as names, social security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of victims .

The feds say that as part of the investigation, they repeatedly bought stolen data from stores located on Deer.io in order to establish that Deer.io stores did sell reliable stolen information, not fake data.

U.S. officials say Firsov was fully aware of the customers who posted on the site because he regularly advertised Deer.io on cybercrime forums.

Firsov’s arrest is not a shock to cybersecurity industry insiders. The Deer.io platform was first introduced as a haven for cybercrime in a Digital Shadows report published back in June 2016.

At that time, the Deer.io platform became notorious after a hacker known as Tessa88 used the Deer.io store to sell user data stolen from MySpace and LinkedIn.

In a message sent to a reporter investigating the case in 2016, the administrator of Deer.io, who Firsov was believed to be, deliberately avoided answering the direct question about selling hacked data and even flaunted his Russian citizenship as the reason he collaborated with infringing stores.

“Deer.io operates in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation,” a Deer.io administrator told a journalist in 2016.

“Our clients can create stores that do not violate the laws of the Russian Federation. We block stores where drugs are sold and stolen bank accounts. We will also block any store at the request of Roskomnadzor or the competent authorities of the Russian Federation,” the hacker wrote then.

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US authorities notified the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York about the detention of Russian Kirill Firsov. This was announced by the official representative of the Russian diplomatic mission Alexei Topolsky, writes TASS.

“The Consulate General has received notification of the detention and is in contact with the relatives of the detainee. He is being held at a detention center in Manhattan,” Topolsky said.

The trial of the Russian will be held in New York. He is expected to be formally charged with aiding and abetting trafficking in persons and trafficking in stolen information.

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