The FBI has arrested a Russian national said to be behind Deer.io, a platform that hosts online stores, on which hackers advertise and sell compromised accounts and stolen user.
The suspect is named Kirill Victorovich Firsov and was arrested by the FBI on Saturday, March 7, at John F. Kennedy Airport, in New York.
According to US, Firsov had been managing the Deer.io platform since October 2013, when it began operating.
The site allows users to host online stores for around $12/month. According to data, Deer.io has hosted more than 24,000 stores and has brought in over $17 million.
FBI: Deer.io platform is mainly used for cybercrime
According to the FBI, Deer.io has also hosted legitimate businesses, however, primarily used for cybercrime it was.
“To date, law enforcement has not found any legitimate business advertising services and products through a store on the Deer.io platform,” the complaint states.
The FBI says it has inspected more than 250 online stores hosted on Deer.io. These stores were selling access to compromised accounts and servers and various personal data, such as names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses.
Officials said they were able to purchase various data from stores hosted on Deer.io, confirming that Deer.io stores were selling authentic information and not fake data.
The FBI claims that Firsov was well aware that their clients were cybercriminals, since he regularly advertised Deer.io on hacking forums.
Very well-known platform
Firsov's arrest comes as no surprise to those involved in the cybersecurity . The Deer.io platform was cited as a haven for crime in a 2016 report.
At the time, the platform was starting to become more popular, as a famous hacker, known as Tessa88, used it to sell user he had stolen from MySpace and LinkedIn.
At the time, Firsov had not admitted to selling stolen data.
“Deer.io operates in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation,” the platform’s administrator said in 2016.
“Our customers can create stores that do not violate the laws of the Russian Federation. We do not allow stores that sell drugs/stolen bank accounts. We will also block any store requested by the relevant authorities of the Russian Federation.”.
Firsov will be arraigned in a New York court later this week, where he will be formally charged with aiding and abetting criminals who sold stolen information.
For now, the platform continues to operate.
