Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, May 17, 2022
VENEZUELAN CARDIOLOGIST-TURNED-HACKER SUBJECT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT: A criminal complaint was unsealed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging Moises Luis Zagala Gonzalez (Zagala), also known as “Nosophoros,” “Aesculapius” and “Nebuchadnezzar,” a cardiologist and dual citizen of France and Venezuela, and residing in the latter country, with attempted computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. The charges stem from Zagala’s use and sale of ransomware, as well as his extensive support of, and profit sharing arrangements with, the cybercriminals who used his ransomware programs.
As charged in the criminal complaint, Zagala has designed multiple ransomware tools — malicious software that cybercriminals use to extort money from companies, nonprofits and other institutions, by encrypting those files and then demanding a ransom for the decryption keys.
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