The cases have all generated publicity splashes,
though they’ve hardly curbed hacking from
foreign countries. And given the absence of
extradition treaties with countries the U.S.
regards as the biggest cyber offenders, arrests of
indicted hackers are exceedingly rare.
There have, however, been isolated exceptions
when hackers wanted by the U.S. have traveled
from their home countries and been arrested.
That happened last fall when the Justice
Department unsealed an indictment charging
Yaroslav Vasinskyi in the Kaseya ransomware
attack after the suspected Ukrainian hacker
traveled to Poland.
The arrest resulted in a Justice Department
press conference with Attorney General Merrick
Garland, a sure sign that prosecutors won’t
abandon their pursuit of indictments when they
think it makes sense.
“That’s certainly a tool that the interagency and
the FBI are prepared to use and are working
towards,” Vorndran said of indictments, “but it’s
not the only tool.”