Former Kaspersky Lab Expert Sentenced in Russia for Treason

The former head of Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab's computer incidents investigation unit was sentenced today in Moscow's District Military Court for treason.

Ruslan Stoyanov, who had been with Kaspersky Lab since 2012, was arrested in December 2016 along with Sergei Mikhailov, deputy head of the information security department of Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, and another officer of the FSB for alleged treasonous activities.

Stoyanov received a 14-year prison sentence and a fine, and Mikhailov, a 22-year sentence and a fine, according to an NBC News report today.

Russian media previously had reported that Stoyanov was contacted by Mikhailov to provide FBI cybercrime analysts with information on an investigation into the activities of a Russian businessman, Pavel Vrublevsky. Details of the case have been slim.

While at Kaspersky Lab, Stoyanov led the firm's cybercrime investigation that ultimately led to the 2016 arrests of 50 members of the so-called Lurk cybercrime gang that stole more than $45 million from Russian financial institutions — Russia's largest-ever crackdown on financial cybercrime.

Kaspersky Lab said Stoyanov is not related to the company: "The case against this employee does not involve Kaspersky Lab. Ruslan Stoyanov's trial was held in private and the proceedings were classified; we do not possess any information about the substance of his charges," Kaspersky Lab said in a statement.

Stoyanov previously had served as head of network security for Russian ISP OJSC RTComm.RU, and was with Ministry of Interior's Moscow-based Cybercrime Unit in the early 2000s.

In 2015, Stoyanov authored a report for Kaspersky Lab on the inner workings of Russian financial cybercrime that noted that the risk of prosecution is low for cybercriminals in Russia: "The lack of established mechanisms for international cooperation also plays into the hands of criminals: for example, Kaspersky Lab experts know that the members of some criminal groups permanently reside and work in Russia's neighbors, while the citizens of the neighboring states involved in criminal activity often live and operate in the territory of the Russian Federation," he wrote.

"Kaspersky Lab is doing everything possible to terminate the activity of cybercriminal groups and encourages other companies and law enforcement agencies in all countries to cooperate," he wrote at the time.

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