Mastermind of Notorious Mariposa Botnet Jailed in Slovenia

Upi.com reported on 24th December, 2013 stating that a 27 year old Slovenian hacker, Matjaz Skorjanc charged of masterminding the notorious Mariposa botnet that compromised an estimated 12.7 million computers around the globe, has been imprisoned for 5 years.

Skorjanc also known as "Iserdo" was arrested in 2010 after a two-year investigation and was found guilty of creating the Mariposa botnet and supporting others in "wrong doings" & money laundering.

He has also been told to pay 4,000 Euros as a fine and give up a flat and car he was alleged to have bought with the money he had attained from a Spanish criminal group.

His ex-girl-friend, namely, Nusa Coh, has also been jailed for eight-months' probation on charges of money laundering.

The botnet was dubbed Mariposa - Spanish for butterfly - because it was created by software which was written by Skorjanc called ButterFly Flooder.

The software was advertised for sale on the Internet claiming it could perform "stress tests" on computer networks and offer a way of distantly controlling Linux and Windows PCs.

Investigators said that the malware was spread globally and used to send spam emails, stage DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks to overpower targeted servers and gather details that included credit card details and logins IDs.

BBC published a report on 24th December, 2013 with Chief Executive of Defense Intelligence, Keith Murphy, as stating that he thinks the verdict is noteworthy and will be kept in mind as a milestone in the prosecution of cyber crimes. It also mirrors that the system has realized the damage that can be created by a bit of code and now beginning to equate it to physical theft. The 'wild west' days of cyber crime are ended even in smaller nations.

Grahamcluley.com published a report on 24th December, 2013 quoting a comment on the same case by Graham Cluley, Computer Security Expert, as saying that hopefully, the punishment of Iserdo will work as a forewarning to other Internet criminals that the international authorities are strong-minded to probing those behind Internet attacks and are set to hand out stiff verdicts if culpability is proved.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/2/2014