CEO of major anti-piracy company arrested in Russia for high treason * TorrentFreak

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Cybersecurity firm Group-IB, which for several years investigated hundreds of hacker sites and their links to organized crime, is currently at the heart of a huge scandal in Russia. Company founder Ilya Sachkov was arrested by local security services this week on suspicion of treason and collaboration with foreign intelligence services.

In recent years, the large cybersecurity firm Group-IB has been at the forefront of the fight against piracy in Russia.

In early 2019, the company was the first to report in detail on “pirate CDNs,” specialized content delivery systems that serve a large number of pirate streaming sites with tens of thousands of movies and TV shows. , as well as supporting illustrations and descriptions.

Later in the year, Dutch anti-piracy firm BREIN, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment took legal action against several of the operations listed in Group-IB reports. . These include Moonwalk, a CDN believed to provide up to 80% of known Russian streaming portals.

Today, however, the IB-Group – which is a partner of both INTERPOL and Europol – itself has serious legal problems.

Offices of the Law Enforcement Research Group-IB in Russia

According to a statement released by Group-IB on Tuesday afternoon, Russian law enforcement agents raided his Moscow office and left the same day. At the time, the company said the reasons for the search were unclear, but reassured customers and partners that everything was working as usual.

“Group-IB’s decentralized infrastructure allows us to protect our customer data, maintain business operations and work seamlessly in our offices in Russia and around the world,” the company said.

With Group-IB senior management and lawyers assessing the situation, the company has remained silent. However, in a new statement released on Wednesday, Group-IB was able to provide additional information.

Founder and CEO of Group-IB arrested

Group-IB has announced that its lawyers are examining information provided by the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow concerning the company’s founder, Ilya Sachkov, who was allegedly arrested in connection with the raids on Tuesday. A source from the TASS news agency reveals that the businessman was arrested on suspicion of compromising national security.

“The Lefortovo district court in Moscow decided on September 28 to choose police custody until November 27 as a detention measure for Ilya K. Sachkov suspected of having committed a crime provided for in article 275 of the Criminal Code Russian (“High Treason”), “the source said.

Sachkov reportedly denied committing wrongdoing

Sachkov’s files are said to be marked as “closed”, but according to a security agency source quoted by TASS, the 35-year-old denies any wrongdoing.

“He does not admit the guilt of high treason, which damaged the reputation and the nation and the interests of Russia, or that he cooperated with the intelligence services of foreign states,” the source said. .

High treason is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but Group-IB says it is “confident in the innocence” of its CEO and “its commercial integrity”.

TorrentFreak has requested additional information from Group-IB, but the company declined to comment beyond its earlier statements.

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