WANTED: US Offers $2.5M Bounty to Nab Belarusian Hacker

By Shane Snider for InformationWeek
Thursday, August 29, 2024

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The alleged hacker is charged with a scheme to transmit malware and online scams to millions of unsuspecting internet users.

Playing on Competitive Greed

Offering up bounties for cybercriminals may be an effective tactic to pit cybercriminal operations against one another, but may come with some drawbacks, says Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at AI security firm ImmuniWeb and an adjunct professor of cybersecurity at Capitol Technology University.

“While the idea of paying generous bounties for information that will lead to the arrest of professional cybercriminals is far from being novel, the tactic can be unprecedently successful in 2024,” Kolochenko says in an email. “… Competition on the global cybercrime market also intensifies, so even ideologically similar hacking groups may report each other to law enforcement to make some money and to get a bigger market share.”

However, he says, “this tactic is not without drawbacks. First, protection of personal data of suspects -- and their completely innocent namesakes -- is important as a matter of ethics and law. Second, offering bounty payment only in case of conviction weakens the entire concept: for example, the prosecution may decide to drop charges in exchange for collaboration … ” Read Full Article