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A FIN7 hacking group member named Denys Iarmak has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in compromising tens of millions of debit and credit cards, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Iarmark is a Ukrainian who served as a high-level hacker for FIN7 from November 2016 to November 2018. He was the hacking group's "pen tester." He designed phishing e-mails with malware that intruded a victims' networks and extracted their data including financial information.

This hacker frequently used JIRA. a project management software hosted on private servers in different countries to coordinate FIN7's cyber attacks. He received substantial compensation for his participation in the attacks. Despite the reported arrests of the hacking group members, he and other co-conspirators continued to attack U.S. businesses.

Iarmark is the third FIN7 member sentenced to prison. A court sentenced Fedir Hladyr to 10 years in prison and Andrii Kolpakov was sentenced to seven years in prison on April 16 and June 24 last year, respectively.

These FIN7 hackers and their co-conspirators were responsible for breaching the networks of businesses across the United States since at least 2015. They launched a series of highly-sophisticated malware attacks on U.S. businesses primarily those in the gambling, hospitality, and restaurant industries. Some of the businesses attacked by the hacking group include  Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chili’s, Arby’s, Red Robin, and Jason’s Deli.

The hacking group stole more than 20 million debit and credit card numbers, causing more than $1 billion in damages to U.S. victims.

In a statement, DOJ Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, Jr. said, “Iarmak and his conspirators compromised millions of financial accounts, causing over a billion dollars in losses to Americans and costs to America’s economy."

On the other hand, U.S. Attorney Nicholas W. Brown of the Western District of Washington commented, “Iarmak was directly involved in designing phishing emails embedded with malware, intruding on victim networks, and extracting data such as payment card information. To make matters worse, he continued his work with the FIN7 criminal enterprise even after the arrests and prosecution of co-conspirators. He and others in this cybercrime group used hacking techniques to essentially rob thousands of locations of multiple restaurant chains at once, from the comfort and safety of their keyboards in distant countries.”

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