A former Canadian government employee turned ransomware hacker has been sentenced to a 20-year prison term in the United States in what a federal court judge called 'the worst case he's ever seen.'
Over a period of 10 months beginning in April 2020, Sebastien-Vachon Desjardins worked as an affiliate of Netwalker, a ransomware gang that targeted and extorted millions of dollars from dozens of companies and organizations around the world.
In June, Vachon-Desjardins — a former IT specialist for Public Services and Procurement Canada — pleaded guilty to four charges, including computer fraud and transmitting a demand in relation to damaging a protected computer in the U.S. Netwalker targeted as many as 400 victims in more than 30 countries and collected $40 million in ransom payments, according to U.S. attorney Carlton Gammons, who called the victimization "staggering." He said one third of ransoms paid out were in relation to attacks Vachon-Desjardins was part of.Gammons said the pre-sentencing report didn't reveal anything remarkable to suggest weighing in favour of a lesser sentence.
Jung said two key factors guided him: a desire to deter others from committing similar crimes, and Vachon-Desjardins' "horrible behaviour."
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