Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Alleged Mariposa Botnet Author Nabbed

Summary: Police in Slovenia arrested a 23-year-old man in Maribor, identified by KrebsOnSecurity as Dejan Janžekovic, on suspicion of creating the Mariposa botnet, which surfaced in December 2008 and grew to an estimated 12 million infected computers, including more than half of the Fortune 1,000 companies and at least 40 major banks. The AP reported the arrest occurred about 10 days earlier and the man was released on bond, while Janžekovic told Krebs he is not "Iserdo," acknowledged being questioned by the FBI and Slovenian police, and said he gave investigators the password to his encrypted partitions.

Key Takeaway: Defence Intelligence's Christopher Davis said his team tracked just under 700 domains used to control parts of Mariposa, and that breaking the bot's homegrown encryption took about three days versus the usual hour - a measure of how far a few-hundred-dollar kit could spread across Fortune 1,000 networks and 40 banks.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Cybercrime & Law Enforcement
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