Extradited Russian Hacker Charged in Excel Malware Campaign Targeting Freelance Platform Users

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a Russian national, Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev, 40, with using roughly 255 fake accounts on a freelance platform to send malware-laced Excel attachments to about 80,000 of its users in 2016 and 2017. Aktulaev was arrested in Cyprus in May 2025 and extradited to the United States on August 28, 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. The charges were unsealed on September 2, 2026. The campaign allegedly targeted users of a freelance platform via fake accounts, distributing malicious Excel documents designed to exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel. The specific malware strain and exact exploit mechanism used in the attachments have not been detailed in the available summary. The full extent of infections and data compromise resulting from the 2016-2017 campaign is not specified. The DOJ has not announced a specific patch or mitigation related to this historical campaign, but users are advised to ensure Microsoft Excel and operating systems are updated to protect against known vulnerabilities that could be leveraged by similar malware.