U.S. Charges Venezuelan Doctor for Using and Selling Thanos Ransomware
May 17, 2022
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday accused a 55-year-old cardiologist from Venezuela of being the mastermind behind Thanos ransomware , charging him with the use and sale of the malicious tool and entering into profit sharing arrangements. Moises Luis Zagala Gonzalez, also known by the monikers Nosophoros, Aesculapius, and Nebuchadnezzar, is alleged to have both developed and marketed the ransomware to other cybercriminals to facilitate the intrusions and get a share of the bitcoin payment. If convicted, Zagala faces up to five years' imprisonment for attempted computer intrusion, and five years' imprisonment for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. "The multi-tasking doctor treated patients, created and named his cyber tool after death , profited from a global ransomware ecosystem in which he sold the tools for conducting ransomware attacks, trained the attackers about how to extort victims, and then boasted about successful attacks, including by malicious
