Wire · founder news, decoded · regulatory
Treasury sanctions First VPN Service, others for abetting ransomware gangs
The US Treasury sanctioned First VPN Service (1VPNS) and its Ukrainian administrator for providing anonymity infrastructure to ransomware operators; a Belarusian was also sanctioned for selling encryption obfuscation tools (cryptors) to ransomware gangs. The designation marks the first Treasury sanction of a VPN service and follows a May Europol takedown.
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The Wire takeaway
If you sell encryption, anonymity or infrastructure tools, Treasury just drew a line: any service marketed to cybercriminals is now a sanctions target, even if the tool itself is legitimate. Audit your customer base and terms of service this week—if you have paying ransomware operators, you're next.
Read the full story at cyberscoop.com →
Topics: Cybersecurity · sanctions · ransomware · vpn-services · cryptographic-tools · compliance · infrastructure-regulation