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Russian Man Extradited To US For Heartland, Dow Jones Cyberattacks

Posted by Soulskill on from the justice-takes-its-time dept.

itwbennett writes: A Russian man accused of high-profile cyberattacks on Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Heartland Payment Systems and 7-Eleven has been extradited to the U.S. and appeared in court in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday. Vladimir Drinkman, 34, of Syktyykar and Moscow, Russia was charged for his alleged role in a data theft conspiracy that targeted major corporate networks and stole more than 160 million credit card numbers, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release. Drinkman appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and entered a plea of not guilty to the 11 counts he faces. His trial is scheduled to begin in April.

88 comments

  1. So, we got our agent back? by jtara · · Score: 0

    See subject...

    1. Re:So, we got our agent back? by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      You watch too much TV

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  2. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    ... gas prices can go back up to normal.

  3. Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Arresting people for alleged 'crimes' well outside of the jurisdiction of the accusing party and moving them where they have no resources to reasonably defend themselves is seriously fucked up. In a few years when the Caliphate begins 'extraditing' Americans from all over the Middle East and Asia we'll hear a lot unhappy noise about it from the US.

    1. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While not a fan of anything much the US does. The US did not arrest him, he was arrested elsewhere, the US has to prove a case is valid in the local courts for extradition to occur. This is EXACTLY how things should be working, assuming no corruption was involved in the extradition trial.

    2. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US doesn't have to 'prove' anything. Pick up an extradition agreement with the US, read it through and come back to us. It is entirely procedural, as in, if he's indicted in the US, he's kidnappable from all countries that have such agreements. And such agreements are sold to the other party as the proverbial trinkets that bought Manhattan -- in exchange for the 'good will' of the US. There is virtually no reciprocity. Which is why you haven't heard a lot about people extradited from the US.

      Here, ejucate yourself: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

    3. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last time I checked the Netherlands wasn't a part of the UK or subject to laws and agreements between the UK and US. perhaps you could provide details of when they were invaded and UK extradition process took over?

    4. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      The agreements are more or less the same, from Romania to the UK, except that in the smaller countries complaints like this are usually squashed. I advised you to go read up and compare the treaties. Good to see that you choose to ignore the facts and, instead, enrich us with your 'insightful', but uninformed opinion. How American.

    5. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      well I picked up the NETHERLANDS extradition agreement (available through google if you bothered before commenting) and as expected you are full of shit. Netherlands requires the extradition request to be reviewed by the court (unless the person has agreed to a simplified extradition). The Netherlands also has a history of REFUSING extradition requests from the US that it determines are without merit. You can also do many searches and see that the dutch court did review and approve the extradition.

    6. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I suggest you go and inform yourself, the agreements are NOT the same, the Netherlands requires the extradition to be reviewed under dutch laws by a dutch court. The dutch have refused extraditions from the US before on grounds that the case is without merit or that they believe the person will be mistreated by US system.

    7. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by icebike · · Score: 1

      TFA:

      Drinkman and Smilianets were arrested at the request of the DOJ while traveling in the Netherlands in June 2012.

      Let me guess, was this an all expense paid Tour of the Netherlands that Drinkman's email address Won?

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    8. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No they aren't the same (though many are based on the same European extradition agreement). most countries do not just rubber stamp US requests like the UK does.

    9. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The agreements are more or less the same, from Romania to the UK, except that in the smaller countries complaints like this are usually squashed. I advised you to go read up and compare the treaties. Good to see that you choose to ignore the facts and, instead, enrich us with your 'insightful', but uninformed opinion. How American.

      Extradition treaties are very seldom ratified by the senate, so while the treaty has been agreed upon it has no legal standing. It is mostly just upheld asymmetrically because smaller nations doesn't want to put up a fight with the US over some dickhead they don't care about.

    10. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by St.Creed · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I misclicked and mismoderated your comment. Undo.

      On-topic: not only that, but in this specific case there was also an extradition request from Russia which was quite strange, which ensured that the entire case was covered in the national media. There was a lot of suspicion that the extradition request from Russia was just to ensure he could get out of jail, using his ill-gotten profits to buy himself off.

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
    11. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      Wikipedia has a nice list of countries with whom the USA has extradition treaties and there are associated PDFs.
      I know that the CIA has indeed kidnapped people (extraordinary rendition is the sanitized name) from Western countries, and those countries were none too happy about it.
      Normally, it's possible to fight extradition in a court. In fact, there are lawyers who specialize in this sort of thing.

    12. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "the US has to prove a case is valid in the local courts for extradition to occur. "

      This is not true.

      You are an idiot, you spew misinformation, and you need to shut the fuck up.

      And all the people who modded you up are idiots too.

      By the way, I AM a lawyer. It is obvious none of you fucktards are because you
      would not have modded the misinformation up.

    13. Re:Expanding jurisdictions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'm a lawyer too, and you're clearly a fucktard as well. See all the facts I provided to prove my point? See how easy it is to make unobstantiated claims anonymously on the internet?

  4. Extradition? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I couldn't tell from the story - was he actually extradited by Russia? If so, I'm really surprised they're welling to extradite anyone to us these days.

    1. Re:Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is in the TFA, they were extradited from Holland, where they went for some grass and hookers.

    2. Re:Extradition? by mentil · · Score: 5, Informative

      TFA makes clear that he was arrested/detained in The Netherlands, so he was presumably extradited from there.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    3. Re:Extradition? by jtara · · Score: 0

      What part of "extradited" did you not understand? No, he wasn't "nabbed" without process.

      He was arrested in The Netherlands, and the Dutch agreed to extradite him.

      Reading. Comprehension.

    4. Re:Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He was arrested in the Netherlands.

    5. Re:Extradition? by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      you must be reading some other article, it specifically states there were arrested and extradited from Netherlands. They were arrested when travelling there.

    6. Re:Extradition? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Clearly I missed that detail from the story, but your response was extremely rude. I think you owe me an apology.

    7. Re:Extradition? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1

      Yes, somehow I missed that when reading it.

    8. Re:Extradition? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1

      yeah, sorry, I'm not sure how I missed that. Must be time for me to go to bed.

    9. Re: Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Go fuck yourself?

    10. Re:Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you. stupid.

    11. Re: Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ain't you a karma whore.

    12. Re:Extradition? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Thanks that's indeed informative. Amazing nobody thought this information should be in TFS. Reading the summary, the obvious question was: what? a Russian citizen is extradited to the US? From Russia??

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    13. Re:Extradition? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think you owe me an apology.

      You must be new here.

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      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    14. Re:Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Drinkman was arrested in the Netherlands in June 2012 and had been detained there."

    15. Re:Extradition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the slashdot comic with a 7-digit ID.

    16. Re:Extradition? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      What part of "extradited" did you not understand?

      It wasn't the "extradited" part that the GP had a problem with.

      He was arrested in The Netherlands, and the Dutch agreed to extradite him.

      The absence of this from the summary is what led the GP to ask his quite reasonable question.

      No, he wasn't "nabbed" without process.

      The GP never implied that he might have been.

      Reading. Comprehension.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    17. Re:Extradition? by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      It's not in the summary, and shit, remember where you are... you get extra credit for demonstrating the courage to click the article link.

      My first thought? Snowden's fucked.

      No individual on the planet benefits less from a thawing of US/Soviet relations.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    18. Re:Extradition? by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Thanks that's indeed informative. Amazing nobody thought this information should be in TFS. Reading the summary, the obvious question was: what? a Russian citizen is extradited to the US? From Russia??

      You don't see the beauty of it?

      You and I both clicked on the story. Devilishly clever.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    19. Re:Extradition? by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      Ask for that you may just get a goatse instead.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    20. Re:Extradition? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I'd really love to see how much people accept the "process" if a US individual is arrested in the Netherlands to be sent on trial to Russia.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    21. Re:Extradition? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Don't worry! As a US citizen living abroad, I can guarantee you that the US government does not give a shit about us. In fact, they regard us as little more than traitors or tax-dodgers (which is pretty much the same thing).

      When other countries' citizens get into trouble, their governments will at least make a gesture to help. I've seen it - Sweden, Britain, Italy...they actually send consular representatives out to investigate, attend trials, etc. I talked with them and it turns out this is their job! Their actual job!

      US government doesn't have anyone like this. You get into legal trouble and they just give you the finger. There is a list of attorneys on their website and that's it. Good luck even getting an American on the phone, they hire locals specifically to shield themselves from having to deal with fellow Americans. So, take heart! If your scenario happened then the US citizen involved would be totally screwed, something that should make your kind happy. :D

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    22. Re:Extradition? by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      IIRC the number of accounts reached 7 digits around 2006, meaning he's probably been here 7 or 8 years.

    23. Re:Extradition? by jtara · · Score: 1

      The absence of this from the summary is what led the GP to ask his quite reasonable question.

      You're supposed to read the actual article before opening your yap.

      And, as others have noted, ..tse would have been rude. I was relatively nice, but unforgivingly direct. I mean, not even Linus-rude. Heck, I might not even have been Matz-rude, and that's not very rude! It's /. Respect the culture.

      No, he wasn't "nabbed" without process.

      The GP never implied that he might have been

      Yes, he did. He asked if the guy was "actually" extradited.

    24. Re:Extradition? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      You're supposed to read the actual article before opening your yap.

      It's /. Respect the culture.

      Or what?

      First you say people should be reading the article, then you say /. culture should be respected. Those are mutually exclusive!

      Yes, he did. He asked if the guy was "actually" extradited.

      He said "Was he actually extradited by Russia" which doesn't imply that due process wasn't followed.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. ...Vladimir Drinkman? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is he related to Soda Popinski?

    1. Re:...Vladimir Drinkman? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      Either way, I don't think he'll be getting any Slurpees where he's going.

    2. Re:...Vladimir Drinkman? by tribeca.kaji · · Score: 1

      On the contrary, he may have to do quite a bit of slurping.

  6. Great catch by bcoinbilly · · Score: 1

    At least they caught him and willing to give him the justice that this crime deserves.

    1. Re:Great catch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yep, expect him to get a well deserved 50 years for a non violent crime

      Meanwhile, murders get 25 years.

    2. Re:Great catch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yep, expect him to get a well deserved 50 years for a non violent crime

      Meanwhile, murders get 25 years.

      It's a good thing he didn't have any pot, he'd be facing life.

    3. Re:Great catch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a good thing he didn't have any pot, he'd be facing life.

      Dude, weed is for people who don't want to face life.

  7. Information wants to be free! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He should plead "Information wants to free" before hanging himself.

    1. Re:Information wants to be free! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Could we hang someone else? Or a bunch?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    im sure this thing was just one big misunderstanding

  9. I'm laughing so much.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously... His name is Vladimir Drinkman. That's like every russian stereotype in a single name. Highly generic first name and then Drinkman for a last name...

    1. Re:I'm laughing so much.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only step better name could be would be Vladimir Vodkaman

    2. Re:I'm laughing so much.... by airdweller · · Score: 1

      That last name is actually Jewish :) The Russian last names end in "ov", "in" and "yn" IIRC.

  10. Shared responsibilities by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The hackers often gained initial entry through an SQL injection attack" (TFA) SQL injection? Shouldn't the "victims" be prosecuted also, for poor IT management?

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    1. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if you can imprison for seismologists for not predicting earthquakes....

    2. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or banks for being robbed...

    3. Re:Shared responsibilities by Przemo-c · · Score: 1

      Yeah guy who forgets to lock his door or even is careless to never lock hiis door should be also prosecuted when his hows id burgled.

    4. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A more apt comparison would be arresting a surgeon for failing to stitch up his patient.

    5. Re:Shared responsibilities by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah guy who forgets to lock his door or even is careless to never lock hiis door should be also prosecuted when his hows id burgled.

      We are not talking about locking a door, we're talking about implementing basic IT security. Locking your door is not a job. Implementing security is. When a web site fails the basic SQL injection test, the first thing a hacker looks at, there is clearly a problem at all steps of the site development.

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    6. Re:Shared responsibilities by Przemo-c · · Score: 2

      I know that it has to be done properly and injection test are the first to do but treating person that hacked into a system on the same level as people resposible for security is absurd. There should be ramifications for them but prosecution?

    7. Re:Shared responsibilities by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 1

      Well, they warn weathermen in NK they could be executed for giving the wrong forecasts! Depending on where you are in the world, it might be a possibility...

      http://jonathanturley.org/2014...

      --
      -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    8. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if you can imprison for [sic] seismologists for not predicting earthquakes....

      Your "logic" only works if seismologists have the power stop earthquakes from happening.

      A competent web programmer can stop SQL injection in one line of code, and proper security on the database.

      You clearly don't know that SQL injection is, and /. isn't the place for you.

      SQL injection has been a know problem since dynamic web pages first appeared. If you don't know how to stop it, you shouldn't be programming. And certainly not programming for sites that have confidential data.

    9. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seismologists can't stop earthquakes, but they can prevent a lot of damage and all loss of life by giving a timely warning. Should they be held responsible for that if they fail?

    10. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, if that guy is offering a service of storing goods and keeping them safe for other people, and he fails to lock the front door and the vault, then yeah, yeah he should be held legally responsible. Now, if he implemented security which was reasonably believed to be good and a burgler some how managed to sneak through, then in that case, no.

    11. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There should be ramifications for them but prosecution?

      Of course there should be prosecution. Regardless of how bad the security was it was still illegal what they did.

    12. Re:Shared responsibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If there is a known method to predict earthquakes with 100% success rate, just like there is a known method to stop SQL injections with 100% success rate, and they can't be arsed to use the technique despite the job clearly requiring it, yes.

    13. Re:Shared responsibilities by ljw1004 · · Score: 1

      SQL injection? Shouldn't the "victims" be prosecuted also, for poor IT management?

      No, because poor IT management isn't a crime.

      Poor software authoring isn't a crime either. Imagine if unpaid open source contributors were held liable for bugs.

    14. Re:Shared responsibilities by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Your basic premise is that nobody should be allowed to legally make a website w/o "implementing basic IT security", correct? Because if they get hacked, they should be punished.

      Yes, that makes perfect sense...in some small minded world.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    15. Re:Shared responsibilities by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      And as soon as seismologists can avoid earthquakes by doing a better job, your comparison could even be considered sensible.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    16. Re:Shared responsibilities by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Over here he is. For "facilitating a crime".

      Your point being?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    17. Re:Shared responsibilities by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Shouldn't the "victims" be prosecuted also, for poor IT management?

      No.

    18. Re:Shared responsibilities by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      No.

      Maybe I should take a bit more time to answer. And, maybe, the term prosecution is stronger than necessary in this context.
      However. What happens here, and that's also true for the Sony hacking over the past years, is that those big companies neglect their IT teams. Big time. IT is not a profession anymore, IT is a disposable tool. While sitting in the middle of decision makers and sales, IT engineering and development - in these companies - is relegated to some utilities, like haulage. No much effort is put into providing the best management and means to IT - as long as it roughly works, nobody cares. The top management neglects to a disgusting level what makes skills, the necessary smart & clever of IT. In short, our profession is in danger.
      So, some companies being repeatedly hacked, year after year, via some basic tricks that even most PHP programmers know, does show how deep our profession is neglected. And, unfortunately, nobody in the judicial system is able to assess the perverted effect of IT incompetence. Nobody is gonna raise a finger and point to an unfair treatment.
      Basically these companies, and especially their top management, should be liable for such negligence, disrespect and brazen contempt for the profession intelligence.

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  11. Creating new slashdot account ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Says the slashdot comic with a 7-digit ID.

    So you think long time users don't create and move to new accounts? Guess again. For example new job, new account, a new account that is more at liberty to comment on the previous employer who may know or have seen the old account.

    Just one of many reasons.

    1. Re:Creating new slashdot account ... by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Who the fuck creates a new account when they change employers?

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    2. Re:Creating new slashdot account ... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Who the fuck creates a new account when they change employers?

      People who don't like getting sued if they talk about their old employer.

    3. Re:Creating new slashdot account ... by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Court orders to /. would still give up your info. I've seen it happen to former coworkers.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  12. Should have stayed in Russia by moeinvt · · Score: 1

    Given the state of Russia-USA relations, they probably would have given him a medal. His buddies have so far been smart enough to avoid getting arrested in a country with whom the USA has an extradition treaty.

    "Kalinin, Kotov and Rytikov remain at large."

    Neither the article, nor the linked PCworld article say much about how they identified these guys by name. I'd be curious to know.

  13. What is it with ex-commies and cyber attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, why is it that so many people in these shithole countries are happily bilking American businesses out of millions, if not billions, of dollars? I mean, sure Russia's economy has been in shambles ever since the commies fell, sure there's absolutely no domestic prosecution whatsoever of them, and sure you can probably bribe the cops in Moscow to look the other way by offering them a handle of Smirnoff, but it's not like that means hard-working Americans deserve to get hacked. Shit like this makes me think we should have just dropped the god damn nukes.

  14. In Soviet Russia... by Thor+Ablestar · · Score: 1

    Will anybody be so kind to post a proof link of any American extradited to Russia?

    1. Re:In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will anybody be so kind to post a proof link of any American extradited to Russia?

      That might be hard to do for a few reasons.

      1. Russian law prohibits a Russian citizen from being extradited from Russia (so did USSR law before that), so most countries apply the notion of reciprocity, meaning if they won't extradite their citizens, then neither will we, even if that is what the treaty technically requires.

      2. Most such news coverage would be in the country asking for the extradition, but the news sources in Russia are far less likely to publish such things unless it was in the government's interest to flaunt it, meaning it would have to be a high profile case that they felt didn't shame Russia which is unlikely.

      3. Once Russia refused to return Snowden, despite what the treaties said, all extradition requests from Russia to the US have been DOA regardless of nationality of suspect.

    2. Re:In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even countries on good terms with the US have a hard time getting fair extraditions out of their, can't imagine Russia would have ever had a hope in hell of achieving one even before the current mess. The US has always been a do as we say not as we do country.

  15. Name: Drinkman by coinreturn · · Score: 0

    A Russian named Drinkman? Wow, that's stereotyping. Hate to be pulled over for suspected DUI, also.

    1. Re:Name: Drinkman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never heard of a Russian named "Drinkman" before. It must be a fake name.

    2. Re:Name: Drinkman by mistr · · Score: 1

      And the city name Syktyvkar is a conjugation of the words "Sick", "Thief" and "Guy" in norwegian. Drinkman from Sick-thief-guy. Just sayin'

    3. Re:Name: Drinkman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never heard of a Russian named "Drinkman" before. It must be a fake name.

      Or a Jew.

  16. hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't stand this damn hypocrisy, fucking lunacy, evil going for justice? what a joke. What about the damage u.s government(ex. NSA) has done to other countries(like Iran) with their freaking viruses?