Russian cybercrime mastermind Georgy Avanesov was found guilty of computer sabotage by an Armenian court on Tuesday and sentenced to four years in prison. The trial is monumental, not only for the sentencing of a criminal who hijacked millions of computers, but also because it is reportedly the country’s first conviction of a computer criminal. Arrested in 2010, 27-year-old Avanesov is famous for creating the Bredolab botnet. Bredolab refers to the name of the virus Avanesov used to quietly access unsuspecting computers, mainly through a backdoor created when a user opened a malicious email, and was responsible for spamming, spreading malware and carrying out anti-virus attacks. At its peak, the Bredolab botnet sent out 3.6 million junk mail messagesper day. Avanesov also rented out access to the network of zombie computers to other hackers, reportedly earning about 100,000 euros a month. In the 25-page indictment, the prosecution said Avanesov developed the Bredolab in Armenia and used computer servers in Holland and France to spread the virus. Avanesov’s criminal enterprise was compromised in October 2010, when Dutch authorities took control of the botnet, seizing and disconnecting 143 computer servers. Avanesov was arrested at the Armenia’s Zvartnots International Airport the next day,flying in from Moscow. Source: Huffington Post
I am pretty surprised that Armenia would do a spam prosecution. I guess they are hoping to get some $$$ from US for cooperating.
I was thinking the same thing. Can you imagine what the sentence would have been if he were prosecuted in the US???
before the FBI or cyber crime unit offer him a job to work with them against the Chinese hackers?:shot:
