NEW YORK–A Russian man entered a guilty plea here to being part of a global cyber-hacking operation on numerous companies, including the huge JPMorgan Chase breach in 2014 that involved some 83-million customer accounts.
Andrei Tyurin, 35, of Moscow, is the first person to be convicted in the case, which prosecutors called one of the largest hacking cases ever uncovered. In all, Tyurin was involved in helping to access information on more than 100-million people at various companies, including the bank. Charges remain pending against others, including Gery Shalon, a man prosecutors said orchestrated the criminal enterprise, according to the New York Times.
Tyurin entered guilty plea in United States District Court in Manhattan to six felony counts, including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit computer hacking. He could face a term of up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 13, the Times said.
“Andrei Tyurin’s extensive hacking campaign targeted major financial institutions, brokerage firms, news agencies, and other companies,” Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “Ultimately, he gathered the customer data of more than 80 million victims, one of the largest thefts of U.S. customer data from a single financial institution in history.”
‘Accepted Responsibility’
Tyurin’s attorney, Florian Miedel, said in a statement that his client had been “hired by the originators and brains of the scheme to infiltrate vulnerable computer systems at their direction. He has now accepted responsibility for his particular and limited role in this far-reaching conspiracy, and hopes to return to his wife and young daughter as soon as possible.”
In addition to JPMorgan Chase, Tyurin also hacked into other financial institutions, brokerage firms and financial news publishers.