Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
A U.S. court has sentenced a Canadian man to 20 years in prison for his role in a number of cyberattacks involving the ransomware NetWalker.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentence on Tuesday for Sebastian Vachon-Desjardins, 35, of Gatineau, Que., over his participation in the NetWalker ransomware attacks, which targeted dozens of victims around the world including companies, municipalities, hospitals, law enforcement, emergency services, school districts, colleges and universities, the department says.
In particular, the U.S. Department of Justice points to the use of NetWalker to specifically target the health-care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. District Judge William F. Jung in Tampa, Fla., sentenced Vachon-Desjardins on four charges, which he previously pleaded guilty to, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer and transmitting a demand in relation to damaging a protected computer.
As part of the ruling, Vachon-Desjardins must also forfeit US$21.5 million.
"The defendant identified and attacked high-value ransomware victims and profited from the chaos caused by encrypting and stealing the victims' data," assistant attorney general Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a news release issued Tuesday.
"Today's sentence demonstrates that ransomware actors will face significant consequences for their crimes and exemplifies the Department's steadfast commitment to pursuing actors who participate in ransomware schemes."
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security describes ransomware as the most common and rising cyberthreat facing Canadians.
A ransomware attack involves the use of malicious software to encrypt, steal or delete data, followed by a demand for a ransom payment.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced in March that Canada's justice minister had ordered the extradition of Vachon-Desjardins to the U.S. following his indictment by a federal grand jury in Florida.
Prior to that, the RCMP said it had been investigating the NetWalker attacks since August 2020 after receiving information and a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to help identify the suspect.
Police searched Vachon-Desjardins' home in January 2021, which resulted in the seizure of $790,000 in Canadian currency and 719 bitcoin, worth approximately C$35 million.
At the time, the RCMP said it was believed to be the largest seizure of cryptocurrency, by value, in the country to date.
Vachon-Desjardins has already faced criminal charges in Canada, similar to the ones in the U.S., including unauthorized use of a computer, mischief in relation to computer data, extortion and participating in a criminal organization.
The RCMP said he ultimately pleaded guilty to the latter three and in January 2022, a Brampton, Ont., court sentenced Vachon-Desjardins to seven years in prison, as well as the forfeiture of 680 bitcoin, most of his seized computing devices and $742,840. The judgment also included a restitution order of more than $2.6 million to businesses affected by the ransomware attacks.
Reuters reported in March that a LinkedIn profile for a Sebastien Vachon, which appeared to match the accused's description, showed he previously worked as an IT consultant for Public Works and Government Services Canada.
With files from Reuters
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.