FBI mostwanted Russian hacker reveals why he burned his passport TechCrunch

pRussian hacker Mikhail Matveev also known on the internet as Wazawaka and Boriselcin is wanted by the FBI which is offering a 10 million reward for information that could lead to his arrest and has been put on a US sanctions list But according to Matveev his life hasnt changed much since he was outed as an alleged cybercriminal and put on the FBIs most wanted listppWe are Russian people we are not afraid of the American government Matveev told TechCrunch in an online interview My life has changed for the better after the sanctions I dont feel them on me as well as sanctions are a plus for my security so sanctions help usppIn an interview where he answered both in English and in Russian Matveev said that being sanctioned means Russia will not deport him And to avoid getting caught outside of Russia he wont travel anymore and said he has burned his passport His last trip he said was to Thailand in 2014 where he ate scorpion which he said was deliciousppEarlier this year the US government accused Matveev of participating in a global ransomware campaign against victims all over the world Prosecutors claim Matveev is a prolific ransomware affiliate who worked with the Hive LockBit and Babuk ransomware gangs to carry out significant attacks against corporations and critical infrastructure in the US and elsewhere including hospitals and government agencies In particular the feds said Matveev allegedly intentionally infected the computers of Washington DCs Metropolitan Police Department with ransomwareppMatveev however said he actually isnt affiliated with any ransomware group and that he only rented their software for my own purposes Since the indictment and sanctions he said he has joked about the measures taken against him with people still involved in ransomware operationsppWe sometimes throw memes at each other he saidppHe said he was using the ransomware to both test it in a controlled environment and to deploy it in reallife scenariosppI have never been the author of the Hive and Lockbit project I was only an affiliated independent person by myself my own master Matveev said adding that he is not interested in ransomware anymoreppSince he was indicted and sanctioned Matveev has kept a prolific life on X formerly Twitter given interviews to cybersecurity publications and trolled the US government by printing a Tshirt featuring his own FBI most wanted poster and asking his followers if theyd like to buy similar merchppAn unnamed FBI spokesperson said the bureau declined to commentppWe verified that Matveev was really the person behind the X account by asking him for selfies Matveev provided a selfie showing his left hand which has only four fingers per Matveevs FBIs most wanted page as well as a selfie holding a piece of paper that had this reporters name handwritten on it Matveev said he lost his finger in 2017 when he was installing a server cabinet that weighed 35 kg around 77 lbs which forced him to get surgeryppThe alleged hacker declined to say how much money he has made with his ransomware work and said he now invests in crypto and recommended everyone do the same Matveev said he is also working on a website about cybersecurity Although he declined to say how much money hes made with his ransomware activities he denied that the income the FBI is attributing to him and his accomplices 200 million in ransomware payments is realppMatveev added that he is not interested in ransomware anymore But asked if he misses hacking he said very much and he also said he may go back to hacking but no one will know about itppDo you have more information about any ransomware gang Wed love to hear from you You can contact Lorenzo FranceschiBicchierai securely on Signal at 1 917 257 1382 or via Telegram Keybase and Wire lorenzofb or email lorenzotechcrunchcom You can also contact TechCrunch via SecureDropppDo government sanctions against ransomware groups workppp