Canadian Netwalker Ransomware Affiliate Sentenced to 20 Years in U.S. Prison

A former affiliate of the Netwalker ransomware has been
sentenced to 20 years in prison in the U.S., a little over three
months after the Canadian national pleaded guilty^[1] to his role in the
crimes.

Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, 35, has also been ordered to
forfeit $21,500,000 that was illicitly obtained from dozens of
victims globally, including companies, municipalities, hospitals,
law enforcement, emergency services, school districts, colleges,
and universities.

Launched in 2019, the Netwalker attacks particularly singled out
the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic,
opportunistically taking advantage of the situation to extort money
from victims.

“The defendant in this case used sophisticated technological
means to exploit hundreds of victims in numerous countries at the
height of an international health crisis,” U.S. Attorney Roger B.
Handberg for the Middle District of Florida said^[2].

Vachon-Desjardins, an IT engineer working for the Canadian
government was extradited to the U.S. earlier this March. A month
before that, an Ontario court awarded him a jail term of six years
and eight months.

The defendant was arrested by Canadian law enforcement officers
in the city of Quebec on January 27, 2022, leading to the seizure
of $742,840 in Canadian currency and 719 bitcoin, which was valued
at $21,849,087 back then and $14,463,993 as of today.