Thursday, July 29, 2010
A CYBER mastermind from Slovenia who is suspected of creating a malicious software code that infected 12 million computers worldwide and orchestrating other huge cyberscams was arrested and questioned, police said.
Leon Keder, a spokesman for the Slovenian police, did not identify the suspect. Keder told The Associated Press the man was released after police made sure that he could not tamper with evidence, but offered no details pending an investigation.
The FBI told The AP a 23-year-old known as Iserdo was picked up in Maribor in northwestern Slovenia 10 days ago, after lengthy investigation by Slovenian police, FBI and Spanish authorities.
His arrest comes about five months after Spanish police broke up the massive cyberscam, arresting three of the alleged ringleaders who operated the Mariposa botnet, which stole credit cards and online banking credentials. The botnet — a network of infected computers — appeared in 2008 and infected hundreds of companies and at least 40 banks.
The Mariposa botnet, which has been dismantled, was one of the world’s biggest.
On Wednesday, the FBI identified, for the first time, the three individuals arrested in connection with the case in Spain: Florencio Carro Ruiz, known as Netkairo; Jonathan Pazos Rivera, known as Jonyloleante; and Juan Jose Bellido Rios, known as Ostiator.
They are being prosecuted for computer crimes.
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