Deniss Čalovskis

Background

Deniss Čalovskis was born in 1985 in Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. He is a Latvian national who later became a certified Data Protection Officer (DPO).

The Gozi Virus

Čalovskis is identified as the creator of the Gozi virus, a piece of malware that was prevalent between 2005 and 2012. During that period, the virus infected between 17,000 and 40,000 computers, including systems at NASA. According to the indictment brought against him, financial losses attributable to the virus amounted to "at a minimum, millions of dollars."

Legal Proceedings

In February 2015, Čalovskis was extradited from Latvia to the United States, where he faced a potential sentence of 67 years in prison. In September 2015, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit computer intrusions. On January 5, 2016, he was sentenced to time served, having already spent more than 20 months in Latvian and American jails.

Later Activities

Prior to the conclusion of his legal proceedings, in August 2014, Čalovskis began working at the Latvian Medical Association. Following the resolution of his case, he initiated several social nonprofit projects for the local community in Latvia and went on to obtain certification as a Data Protection Officer.