US authorities have offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the whereabouts of 22-year-old Russian Emin Timofeyevich Stegal, who is suspected of using the WhisperGate malware against the Ukrainian government, among others.

according to US Department of Justice Stegall is linked to the Russian intelligence service GRU. The suspect is said to have used Whispergate to disrupt Ukrainian government systems. This is said to have happened on January 13, 2022, more than a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Government Digital Services Portal, and the Ministry of Education and Science, among others, were attacked.

WhisperGate is designed to look like ransomware, but it is malware designed to completely destroy the target computer and its data. In combination with the WhisperGate attacks, the suspect, along with other accomplices, hacked into several Ukrainian computer systems, stole sensitive data, including patient health records, and defaced websites, the department wrote.

WhisperGate has also been used to attack countries that support Ukraine, including the United States. If Stegall is arrested and extradited to the United States, he could face a maximum prison sentence of five years.