March 11, 2015: In February 2015 the United States offered a reward of $3 million for information leading to the capture of Russian hacker Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, This is the highest reward the government has ever offered for a hacker. In this case it is because Bogachev was responsible for a series of Internet based attacks which, since 2011, resulted in the theft of over $100 million from businesses and individuals worldwide (but mainly in the West). Bogachev was indicted in the United States in 2014 but arresting the suspect is complicated by the fact that Bogachev lives in Russia and Russia is in no mood to extradite him for robbing Westerners.

Given the growing damage hackers are doing and the increasing ability to identify those responsible the U.S. is adopting some of the techniques that proved useful in shutting down terror organizations. In addition to large cash rewards, this also means years spent searching for and monitoring suspects and then arresting them when they venture out of their extradition-free sanctuaries. Many Russian hackers don’t feel safe in Russia and travel and some get caught and extradited back to the United States. This happened recently to Vladimir Drinkman, who had been identified as a key member of a gang that stole 160 million credit card numbers and ultimately several hundred million dollars in losses.