Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common and popular as the size of the e-industry expands wildly. Currently, there are a lot of online retailers and other businesses on the web, something which often attract hackers who try to scoop out financial information for monetary gains.
Now, a Russian man has been held over the very same charges – namely, that he had launched Denial-Of-Service attacks against the online retail giant, Amazon, and caused its servers to crash.
His name is Dmitry Olegovick Zubakha. Zubakha is aged 25 and it is believed that back in 2008, he was behind the cyber attacks launched not only on Amazon but a number of other retailers including Priceline and eBay. The hacker was recently apprehended in Cyprus and the charges mounted against him include having accessed a computer without authorization and having damaged it as well as the possession of 15 unauthorized access devices.
Zubakha is also involved in yet another case of aggravated identity theft. This charge has been laid on him because he was found in possession of numerous stolen credit cards. According to the head of Justice Department’s Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Enforcement Committee, Durkan, “The old adage is true: The arm of the law is long. This defendant could not hide in cyberspace, and I congratulate the international law-enforcement agencies who tracked him down and made this arrest.”
When in 2008 Zubakha launched DoS attacks against Amazon, the attacks were able to crash the system and thus incur a lot of damage to the web retailer. He, together with a partner, Sergey Vioktorovich Logashov, was found to be boasting about their hacking exploits on internet forums.
As a result of the two charges, Zabakha may have to face a sentence of up to 10 years for each count and a fine to the tune of $250,000. The charges of aggravated theft identity, if proved, may add a few more years to his sentence. The hackers will soon be extradited to US, where he will probably spend his sentence.
Source: Seattle Times
Courtesy: Slashdot
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