After months and years of exhaustive research and investigations, Slovenia authorities in conjunction with FBI busted a 23 year-old man known as “Iserdo” for allegedly creating and selling an extremely popular and effective botnet kit used to spread malware and build massive botnets like the notorious Mariposa botnet.
As eSecurity Planet reports, private security software firms working with law enforcement managed to track “Iserdo” down after he sold an unknown number of do-it-yourself malware kits online for less than $2,000 apiece.
Security experts and the FBI said the arrest marks a significant breakthrough for law enforcement agencies looking to at least slow the flow of malware-proliferating kits over the Internet.
“In the last two years, the software used to create the Mariposa botnet was sold to hundreds of other criminals, making it one of the most notorious in the world,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, said in a statement. “These cyber intrusions, thefts, and frauds undermine the integrity of the Internet and the businesses that rely on it; they also threaten the privacy and pocketbooks of all who use the Internet.”
Authorities in Slovenia last week arrested a man known by the Internet moniker “Iserdo” for allegedly creating and selling the Butterfly botnet kit used to help spread some of the most damaging and profitable malware in the world, including the infamous Mariposa botnet.
Working with the FBI and with assistance from security software vendors Panda Security and Defence Intelligence, Slovenian law enforcement agents nabbed the man suspected of selling thousands of Butterfly kits for between $650 and $2,000 to enterprising–if unoriginal and marginally skilled– malware purveyors who then used the kit to create botnets that have wreaked havoc at financial institutions, government agencies and companies around the globe.
“Iserdo” was apprehended in Maribor, Slovenia last week and is currently free on bail and awaiting a court date in the Central Europe nation.