Who Is Paunch?
Summary: Krebs on Security reported that Russian authorities arrested a 27-year-old man in Togliatti accused of being 'Paunch,' the author of the Blackhole exploit kit, which Russian outlet neslushi.info said was used by organized crime groups to siphon roughly 26 billion rubles (USD $866 million) from unnamed banks. The article traces clues from Yandex, WHOIS, ICQ and Webmoney records to identify the suspect as Dmitry Fedotov, a Web developer whose profiles list 'hack money' as a professional goal and who posted about browser vulnerabilities under the nickname 'tolst.'
Key Takeaway: The $866 million figure covers what all users of the Blackhole kit took, not one man's haul - a reminder that a single crimeware author can arm many organized groups at once, and that the arrest of one suspect leaves the customers who bought his kit in place.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
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