Russian national facing 20 years for malware campaign that infected 80,000 freelancers

A Russian national, Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev, has appeared in a San Francisco federal court. He was arrested in Cyprus in May 2025 and extradited to the US recently. Aktulaev is allegedly connected to a malware campaign. The malware is said to have infected a large number of freelancers, totaling 80,000. He faces a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years.