One of the FBI's Most Wanted Hackers Is Trolling the US Government (techcrunch.com) 52
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Earlier this year, the U.S. government indicted Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev, also known by his online monikers "Wazawaka" and "Boriselcin," accusing him of being "a prolific ransomware affiliate" who carried out "significant attacks" against companies and critical infrastructure in the U.S. and elsewhere. The feds also accused him of being a "central figure" in the development and deployment of the notorious ransomware variants like Hive, LockBit, and Babuk. Matveev is such a prominent cybercriminal that the FBI designated him as one of its most wanted hackers. Matveev, who the FBI believes he remains in Russia, is unlikely to face extradition to the United States.
For Matveev, however, life seems to go on so well that he is now taunting the feds by making a T-shirt with his own most wanted poster, and asking his Twitter followers if they want merch. When reached by TechCrunch on X, formerly Twitter, Matveev verified it was really him by showing a picture of his left hand, which has only four fingers, per Matveev's FBI's most wanted page. Matveev also sent a selfie holding a piece of paper with this reporter's name on it.
After he agreed to do an interview, we asked Matveev a dozen questions about his life as a most wanted hacker, but he didn't answer any of them. Instead, he complained that we used the word "hacker." "I don't like this designation -- hacker, we are a separate type of specialist, practical and using our knowledge and resources without water and writing articles," he wrote in an X direct message. "I was interested only in terms of financial motivation, roughly speaking, I was thinking about what to do, sell people or become. it, [sic] let me tell you how I lost my finger?" At that point, Matveev stopped answering messages.
For Matveev, however, life seems to go on so well that he is now taunting the feds by making a T-shirt with his own most wanted poster, and asking his Twitter followers if they want merch. When reached by TechCrunch on X, formerly Twitter, Matveev verified it was really him by showing a picture of his left hand, which has only four fingers, per Matveev's FBI's most wanted page. Matveev also sent a selfie holding a piece of paper with this reporter's name on it.
After he agreed to do an interview, we asked Matveev a dozen questions about his life as a most wanted hacker, but he didn't answer any of them. Instead, he complained that we used the word "hacker." "I don't like this designation -- hacker, we are a separate type of specialist, practical and using our knowledge and resources without water and writing articles," he wrote in an X direct message. "I was interested only in terms of financial motivation, roughly speaking, I was thinking about what to do, sell people or become. it, [sic] let me tell you how I lost my finger?" At that point, Matveev stopped answering messages.
Did he also steal an F-35? (Score:3, Funny)
Turns out we've been looking for one of those, so any good leads on its whereabouts would be greatly appreciated. :)
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Was found 2 hours north of Charlottesville in a field.
No reports of set of 4 fingered prints.
His real identity is known? And his appearance? (Score:2)
Wouldn't put it past the CIA to pay a Prigozhin loyalist to see if Matveev can flap his arms as fast he can type.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Prigozhin is the asshat that set up the so-called "Internet Research Agency” in the first place.
Make that "was."
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin is dead, like many of the people who crossed Vladimir Putin.
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Well aware he’s dead, you might have noted my use of the word “surviving” before jumping on my tense selection, lol, +1 grammar nitpick though
Good riddance to bad rubbish, incidentally. Now if only Putin would accidentally ingest some polonium laced tea. Not likely but a man can dream.
Wouldn't put that out of the realms of possibility. Putin would have made promises to other oligarchs and powerful people when his "3 day special military operation", of which we are past day 550, who would have backed him for a division of the spoils. Obviously Prigozin wasn't working without backers, as the war drags on, Russia and those with investments in it are looking weak and losing money.
Sadly, I don't think the Ukraine war will end until Putin eats a bullet, falls out a window or has a plane cra
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Sadly, I don't think the Ukraine war will end until Putin eats a bullet, falls out a window or has a plane crash (there's a reason he doesn't fly).
Putin dying won't end the war (unless it triggers an actual civil war), if anything it's probably better for Ukraine if Putin survives to the end.
The problem is that Russia currently occupies large sections of Ukraine and claims they are actually Russia. Russia won't leave that territory willingly, and Ukraine won't let Russia declare "peace" while they're occupying Ukrainian territory.
The "good" thing with Putin is he probably thinks his power base is strong enough to survive a complete loss (ie, pre-2014
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I think a demise of Putin will likely increase chances of ending the war. Nobody wants the war really except Putin and a bunch of ultra-nationalists. Most everyone else with an education realizes the war is unjust, or at least a severe economic burden. Putin has not really set up a reasonable plan of succession, which is typical for dictators. And possibly part of the Putin plan, because he is essential and when he leaves the stage then Russia inevitably descends into chaos like most dictatorships do. P
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I think a demise of Putin will likely increase chances of ending the war. Nobody wants the war really except Putin and a bunch of ultra-nationalists. Most everyone else with an education realizes the war is unjust, or at least a severe economic burden.
The idea of conquering land appeals to a lot of people, I think the support for the war is a lot higher in Russian than you think.
But lets pretend it isn't.
Remember, for a long time Russians have believed that Crimea was Russian territory unjustly given to Ukraine, and since 2014 Russians have occupied Crimea and consider it part of Russia. Not to mention all the other Ukrainian territory they've officially annexed in the past year (much of which they don't even control).
Do you expect Ukraine to tell a some
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No, I expect that when Putin passes, the support for the war dwindles, and troops are withdrawn. What happens to Crimea is unknown; it's unlikely to ever be Tatar again, too many using it as a football over a few centuries. For the Donbas it's unknown, but I do think that the rebels there are a minority, they've only gotten this far since 2014 because of official and underground support from Russia. Ultimately, it will be like Israel, an unjust situation that has lasted far to long for any solution to ev
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No, I expect that when Putin passes, the support for the war dwindles, and troops are withdrawn. What happens to Crimea is unknown; it's unlikely to ever be Tatar again, too many using it as a football over a few centuries. For the Donbas it's unknown, but I do think that the rebels there are a minority, they've only gotten this far since 2014 because of official and underground support from Russia. Ultimately, it will be like Israel, an unjust situation that has lasted far to long for any solution to ever work.
No one has talked about Crimea being Tatar again. They have discussed the Tatars who fled Crimea to escape Russian persecution moving back, but that's only a minority.
As for the Donbas it was one of the most Russified sections of Ukraine, but there was never any real separatist movement. The moment Russia leaves it's Ukraine again.
The only reason Russia wants Crimea is because of the naval base. The fact that Russian were imported there to support the base is an artificial reason to invade since they're not native to the region and most have not lived there for more than one generation. It's a transparent excuse.
Russians wanted Crimea because they think it's supposed to be Russia. I literally remember a line from a Russian crime film [wikipedia.org] where he kills some Ukrainian gangsters with the line "
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Sadly, I don't think the Ukraine war will end until Putin eats a bullet, falls out a window or has a plane crash (there's a reason he doesn't fly).
Putin dying won't end the war (unless it triggers an actual civil war), if anything it's probably better for Ukraine if Putin survives to the end.
The only think keeping this war going is Putin. Him dying will allow his successor to withdraw and save face, blaming the whole lot on Putin. It won't happen overnight but it's obvious to everyone that the whole thing isn't going so well but Putin has literally bet his life on capturing Ukraine.
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Prigozhin is the asshat that set up the so-called "Internet Research Agency” in the first place. Hardly a friend of the West and unlikely his surviving cronies are either. He can look forward to a lifetime of never leaving that third world shithole masquerading as a Great Power though.
So who is the he in this sentence that can look forward to anything?
Re: His real identity is known? And his appearance (Score:2)
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This is a strange thing to say as other countries are starting to Finlandize to the big Asiatic powers.
Saying that might have been true 30 years ago, or 20, but today? The days of American hegemony are carefully numbered. Why do you think official Washington is making more and more risky moves?
Some humility is required, as the current situation will not exist in perhaps as soon as 10 years.
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This is a strange thing to say as other countries are starting to Finlandize to the big Asiatic powers.
Saying that might have been true 30 years ago, or 20, but today? The days of American hegemony are carefully numbered. Why do you think official Washington is making more and more risky moves?
Some humility is required, as the current situation will not exist in perhaps as soon as 10 years.
The people of the USA, nor apparently its government, appear to have any idea whats coming to them. The loss of the Ogallala Aquifer (seriously, look it up, enjoy that Great Plains agriculture while it lasts) is going to be one piece of the destruction of the coherence of the united states. Dedollarisation, loss of the petro dollar etc. The nails are going into the coffin right now.
Pride, they say, goes before a fall. And the Americans have pride in such abundance.
Word (Score:4, Insightful)
--
A "criminal" is merely an unregistered government competitor.
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A "CEO" is another term for psychopath.
All that other behavior that follows, is shit you should have fucking expected anyway.
Look out (Score:2)
We have a real edgelord over here!
"9 fingered man found after suicide" headline soon (Score:1)
Whether he shoots himself in the back of the head with a shotgun... Twice...
Or hangs himself in his cell while 2 guards "forget" to check on him and all the security cameras are broken...
Or a single magic bullet fired from a school book depository at long range goes cleanly through 2 men at an impossible angle without breaking apart..
Doesn't really matter because one way or another this guy has dramatically shortened his life span.
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How? Do you think the USA is going to drone-strike him? Despite the frequency of that event by USA and Israel, it is legally an act of war, to which Russia, even with sanctions, can still deploy forces as an act of justifiable retaliation. And remember, it was the USA who defined "justifiable" as 'because I don't like you'.
A number of these cyber-criminals are in China and Russia, outside the reach of the USA. The travel options of those criminals are limited but the usual "I'm going to throw you in pr
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I think he has publicly humiliated people with a lot of time, unlimited resources, and bad attitudes. Not healthy. The world of espionage has a long and sordid history of assassinations and extra judicial executions.
You think Putin is going to start ww3 over some random asshole who provoked the wrong people and takes a 10 story fall? Who would even notice another defenestration in Moscow anyway?
You specify the FBI. They are a federal internal agency. Part of a much larger group of TLA that have no probl
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They are the current monopoly, or imperialist empire, and will behave like a monopoly. But the USA is worse than that: They don't use nationalism or manifest destiny or religion, they use the horror of communism, the horror of socialism (which the USA uses to an extent), a "war on drugs", a "war on terror", to excuse their selfishness. It's the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. The few goods they provide, such as world police, are paid by giving US citizens preferential treatment and giving discounts
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Yes, the US is powerful and uses that. I've never said otherwise.
Yet, here on slashdot, the general theme is simultaneously:
- The US is the ultimate evil
And
- The US is stupid and incompetent
Hard to be both, yes?
In this case, a random "civilian" (he certainly isn't a well protected senior politician) has poked a sleeping bear. Bad move. That's my only point here. The TLA will eventually find and kill him if he's annoying enough.
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Kosovo: we killed civilians in an unjust war using an unfair level of force
Somali buccaneers: we stopped the African Robin Hoods from more fairly distributing the wealth of the first world who was stealing it from their home countries
Ww1/ww2: we unfairly joined one side which extended the duration of the wars, leading to additional unnecessary civilian deaths
Hussein in Kuwait: we supported rich oil sheik family instead of elected neighbor, keeping the 1% in power over the people
Korea: we have kept families
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If the US is evil but inept then why so much hate and whining about US actions? Those incompetents are too stupid to ever be effective. Right?
You should pity us for our inability to ever do anything because our government is so dumb.
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Way to go! Good way to completely ignore my point while tossing out some ad hominem! Your mom would be proud.
Again for the short bus crowd: utterly incompetent or all powerful unstoppable evil force that is the root cause of everything bad in the universe. You can't choose both. That's just mindless hatred and a serious case of cognitive dissonance. Expected for slashdot these days.
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to which Russia, even with sanctions, can still deploy forces as an act of justifiable retaliation.
Can they? Can they really? Maybe if they weren't bogged down losing a notwar to its smaller, weaker neighbour. Even if they did manage to deploy "forces" we've seen the actual quality of them now and I don't think anyone is impressed.
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Hey buddy, did you "Remember the Maine!"?
Have you ever read a history book? History has plenty of government conspiracies that turned out to be false flags, government black ops jobs and other evil shit.
You think the government paves roads, helps old people and otherwise are just good honest hard working folks struggling every day to help us all live better lives?
So you believe in the magic bullet? Seriously? It's a childishly ridiculous story. The physics alone is silly without getting into how conveni
Please stop (Score:2)
" X, formerly Twitter"
I really wish journalists would stop this. If people don't know what X is it should be on Elon Musk to clear things up.
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I prefer "Xitter, located at twitter.com"
The X is pronounced as it would be in Mandarin.
Have a nice day
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Thank you.
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Does Elon Musk really own the "X" brand? I did a quick search, and it seams that the "X" brand is property of Meta (or Microsoft). (By the way, I find it batshit crazy that someone can register a letter :-?)
Not to bright (Score:2)
While given US Russian relations at the moment make extradition unlikely, it isnt as if loyalty with that guy is bi-directional.
Its not like old Vlad won't scoop this guy up in a hot second and hand him over if secures some prisoner swap or other diplomatic concession he considers worth while.
Not that being a career criminal is exactly smart, but taunting Federal US Law enforcement generally is pretty dumb. No matter how smart you are painting a target on yourself for an adversary with such great resources
What about the Russian constitution? (Score:3)
According to Wikipedia:
"Several countries, such as France, *Russian Federation*, Austria, China and Japan, have laws against extraditing their respective citizens. Others, such as Germany and Israel [and Brazil], do not allow for extradition of their own citizens in their constitutions."
Having good relations to Russia would only make possible for the criminal to be incarcerated there, at most.
Am I really supposed to believe that... (Score:2)
This narrative doesn't seem plausible. You'd have to believe that Twitter accounts can be anonymous and that simply isn't feasible given modern technology.