Treasury Sanctions Russian ‘Exploit’ Broker Over Stolen US Cyber Tools
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Sergey Zelenyuk and his St. Petersburg firm, Matrix LLC (also known as Operation Zero), for selling stolen U.S. government cyber tools and trading in software exploits. This is the first time the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act has been used to address digital trade secret theft. Operation Zero offered bounties for software vulnerabilities, with some payouts reaching millions of dollars, focusing exclusively on Russian private and government clients. The company openly advertised these bounties on social media, such as $500,000 for an iOS exploit and $4 million for a Telegram exploit. The sanctions also target suspected Trickbot gang member Oleg Kucherov and Zelenyuk’s assistant Marina Vasanovich. According to the Treasury, Operation Zero acquired at least eight proprietary U.S. government cyber tools, including through Australian Peter Williams, who stole and sold exploits in exchange for $1.3 million in cryptocurrency and has since pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets. Operation Zero has also developed spyware, AI tools for extracting personal data, and used social media to recruit hackers and liaise with foreign intelligence agencies.
