Russian Authorities Arrest Operator of Carberp Bank Botnet
By: Fahmida Rashid, SC Magazine
Russian authorities have apprehended the person believed to be behind a banking trojan botnet responsible for stealing around $4.5 million from unsuspecting victims.
The 22-year-old Russian man is accused of using a modified versions of the Carberp banking trojan to steal login details and digital signatures from compromised computers, according to a statement Friday from the Russian Interior Ministry. Authorities from “K,” the agency's anti-cyber crime division, apprehended the man at his home and confiscated computers, software and documents after a 10-month-long investigation. The suspect used the online handles “Hermes” and “Arashi,” according to the statement.
The botnet, compromised primarily of infected systems in Russia, is among the largest banking networks detected to date in the world. While the botnet has been pegged by the ministry at about six million compromised machines, analysis by Russian security firm Dr. Web indicates about 4.5 million were actually active. The botnet was responsible for one million malicious mail messages being sent out daily, and as many as 100,000 new zombies were being created each day.
