Ilya Sachkov

Ilya Sachkov (Russian: Илья Сачков) is a Russian cybersecurity expert and founder and CEO of Group-IB, a cybersecurity company specialising in the detection and prevention of cyberattacks. He received an award from Russian president Vladimir Putin for his work in 2019. In September 2021, he was detained by the Russian government's Federal Security Service on treason charges. According to Bloomberg News, he is alleged to have provided the U.S. government with information about the Russian government's "Fancy Bear" operation that sought to influence the 2016 United States presidential election. Sachkov started Group-IB at age 17 while studying at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, and according to the Financial Times, "attempted to build a global business while remaining on the good side of the Russian government." In June, 2017, Sachkov was appointed a Commissioner in the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, an international multistakeholder commission to develop diplomatic norms against national cyber-attacks. He served until the commission's successful conclusion in November, 2019. In a panel with Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin in attendance, Sachkov criticised the Russian government's response to ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, pointing to Maksim Yakubets as an example. Sachkov's criticism of the Russian government's apparent tolerance of some online criminals continued until late until his arrest by the FSB in September 2021. In a statement released by his lawyer to Forbes Russia in November 2021, Sachkov rejected the treason charges saying he is "neither a traitor nor a spy" and appealed to Putin to move him to house arrest while he awaits trial, after his detention was extended by three months.