German police have pinned a name to one of the world’s most notorious hackers. Danii Shchukin operated under the names of UNKN or Unknown and GandCrab and was, according to German police, the leader of one of the largest globally active ransomware groups, known as GandCrab/Revi. Shchukin is known to have been operating since 2019.
Shchukin has now been placed on Europol’s most wanted list, along with one his accomplices, Anatoly Kravchuk.
German publication Computerwoche covered some of Shchukin’s exploits five years ago. Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant said then that Shchukin was well known for refusing to work with English-speaking hackers and forbade any of his associates from attacking Russia, or any countries within the Russian sphere of interest. Revi is believed to be associated with the DarkSide hacker group, responsible for the Colonial Pipeline attack back in 2021.
According to German police, Shchukin is accused of 130 counts of organized and commercial extortion across Germany. In 25 of these cases, a total of €1.9 million (around $2.2 million) in ransom was paid. He is estimated to have caused economic damage totaling €35.4 million. Kravchuk, who was born in Ukraine, is also wanted for the same crimes.
Both suspects are believed to be in Russia now, although German police have warned that they could be operating in other countries.