It is heartwarming that 16 prisoners, including innocent ex-Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, have been freed from their wrongful imprisonment in Russia in exchange for 24 convicted Russian prisoners. What is disturbing is that innocent individuals wrongfully convicted are being used to bargain for convicted individuals, including cybercriminals.

Krebs on Security has reported that several convicted Russian cybercriminals are part of the swap. They include Roman Seleznev, “who was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison for racketeering convictions tied to a lengthy career in stealing and selling payment card data.” Seleznev is the son of a member of Russia’s parliament, an ally of Vladimir Putin. He was captured in 2014 by the Secret Service in the Maldives. His cybercrimes netted him $50 million, which he was ordered to restore.

Another Russian convicted cybercriminal, Vladislav Klyushin, is included in the swap. He was sentenced in September of 2023 to nine years in prison for a “$93 million hack-to-trade conspiracy.” Information stolen by Klyushin was used to make illegal stock trades. He reportedly owns M-13, a technology company located in Russia with ties to the Russian government.

Although these convicted cybercriminals may not be considered violent, they have still wreaked chaos on U.S.-based companies with their cybercrimes and have stolen millions of dollars from the U.S. economy. Cybercrime continues to be a significant risk for organizations and municipalities (like Columbus, Ohio) and having these cybercriminals back in action is disappointing.

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