SpyEye malware kit has long been deemed as a huge threat for the banking industry. The kit enables hackers to infiltrate banking systems with ease and make away with money. The creator of the malware, Aleksander Panin, has now been arrested and has pleaded guilty.
Panin, who is 24 years old right now and is a Russian citizen, allegedly sold the malware to a number of high-profile criminals. According to the charges brought up against him, he sold it to 150 different clients who then used the kit to pull off banking heists.
The malware became particularly notorious and at one time, it had infected some 1.4 million computers. Using the huge botnet, relying on the infected machines, users of SpyEye were able to make away with big money in some cases. In one particular case, a ‘client’ used SpyEye to take off $3 million from a bank.
Microsoft eventually cracked down on the botnet, which lead to the shut-down of a number of facilities around the globe and the arrest of a few. Panin, however, wasn’t arrested until quite recently even when he had been on Interpol’s red list.
Back in 2013, Panin was in Dominican Republic where he was taken into custody and forcibly extradited to US. As soon as he landed on the Atlanta Airport, he was arrested and after a few months behind the bars, he has now reportedly pleaded guilty to the charges brought forth against him.
Source: FBI
Courtesy: The Verge
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an old and very true quote: “how small a crime is a bank robbery in comparison to opening a bank!”