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Avanesov is suspected to be one of the curators of Bredolab, a trojan horse usually distributed through email attachments or downloaded inadvertently through browser security holes. Once infected, a computer running Bredolab can be used to download and execute files from the Internet. Dutch prosecutors believe that Avanesov made up to €100,000 ($138,950) a month from renting and selling part of his botnet to other cybercriminals for limited periods of time. They in turn used it to send their own spam or mine the PCs for personal data and files.
Avanesov was able to sell parts of the botnet off "because it was very easy for him to extend the botnet again," by infecting more PCs, a Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam spokesperson told ComputerWorld. At its peak, Bredolab could send billions of spam e-mail messages in a month and is accounted for infecting millions of computers in a relatively short span of time.
User Comments: 59
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Its offending criminals are making this kind of money. I hope he will get a long time in jail.
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I am amazed at this. simply amazed. and still, more and more computers fall to scams and spyware.
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how do i know my system isnt part of a botnet?
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well ....
i am absolutely sure that after some month in jail he will be free (agree to joint force with the authorities) and open a new IT security company
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That is shocking how much he made just from selling a botnet and it wasn't even forever, only for specific amounts of time! Least he has been stopped now!
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When is comes to the internet crimes does pay and in this case it pays very well.
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Relic said:
@Guest/Steven - ??? Pretty sure Swedes invented bluetooth for the Swedish company Ericsson.
You're right, they did. Guest/Steven Z. is a troll. Bluetooth was invented in 1994 by Sven Mattisson and Jaap Haartsen while they were working for Ericsson.
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Darth Shiv said:
kazarm said:Its offending criminals are making this kind of money. I hope he will get a long time in jail.
Um... drug dealers?
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Scshadow said:
Uh... anyone know how to start a botnet? I could sure use 100k a month.
XD I am sure everyone on this forum is thinking the same damn thing. And, at the same time, going ..meh too much effort. LOL.
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Hah ! to Legal and proper channels. The biggest crime and criminals are sitting running the Governments, Countries,Court Houses and all that. And you still believe in that system? I am shocked when will the Americans people wake up and not be blinded by the light or dust . Apparently you still don't understand what is the game on the table. Big fish eating little fish ! something like that. Jesus was a Genius too and took the legal path and correct way ! They spared him not also. Anyone took a deep look in the American system? its all devised for corruption. New Laws added and invented to protect the big and the rich and slow death to the poor public. How many of you have lost your homes in past 5 years? Don't fool yourselves no more and open your eyes because the world has changed into a killer dressed as a High Priest walking ahead of Devil. Devil itself is out of business ! Humans have taken over in every shape and form devil's job. If i am wrong then why is there no Prosperity , Peace and things like that in and around your lives ! Ask yourselves really who is wrong and who are wronged. Twisting the words Americans are best at it. I mean the Ones playing and running the show. General public as good as programmed robots or slaves.
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Amen brother. Now take your Xanax. There's very little to be done about the system that's in place. It's too big to fight, and if you join it, you become it.
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How can a hacker earn so much money from? Weird
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Hopefully Leaseweb (the provider in The netherlands where his servers were) can keep this shit out
. But good job guys.
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Makes me want to go rogue :P
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Could he have? Making 130,000 a month is VERY hard if done legal. Just saying.
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I don't believe that much money is gotten from these schemes. This just covers up the fact that perhaps microsoft or computer manufacturers write viruses. Who else knows the internals of windows like this?
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thedrelle said:
I am amazed at this. simply amazed. and still, more and more computers fall to scams and spyware.
replace computers with users.
You shouldn't be amazed, people these days are just not as computer literate as they should be. More and more businesses are forcing there customers onto the internet to uses there services, so the ol Joe Blogg doesn't have a clue about key loggers and the like. So where ever there is an opportunity, there are takers.
Minimise the opportunities, you'll minimise the takers.
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Governments worldwide need to crack down on these criminal rings with extremely harsher penalties. With the world growing in technological dependency, these criminals need to be made examples of. There should be a NATO like international org devoted to counter measures and guidelines.
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These type of people are scoundrels... the absolute dreggs of society. They prey off unsuspecting people and are spineless thieves... (ie: *******)
Even petty thieves have more gaul then these creeps.
Sadly, this is just another Russian story, of how pethetic that country has become. My co-worker got robbed twice in Moscow on his HoneyMoon last year. Most hackers in games are Russian.
They should fix their own government instead of internationally stealing money.
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I'm all for eBusiness and entrepreneurship online, but I would like to see more people do it the legitimate way.
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Wow and i just thought they made virus just for the hell of it.
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uttaradhaka said:
I still don't know the joy of earning millions of dollars while staring at my computer screen. I guess I'll never know.
But still, I wonder, why these brilliant people couldn't earn their fortune in a legal way. Anyway, at least there'll be some less spam in the world now I guess!!!
^THIS x1000. Perhaps I'm a man of simple pleasures, but I've never understood why people who make money illegally overextend their operations so much... $140,000 a month? People are going to want to TAKE YOU DOWN. $10,000 a month? Geesh, still seems like a lot to me, but at least you wouldn't be AS wanted... XP
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Yeah and now they can have fun with the money in jail. Good riddance.
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klepto12 said:
I would kill to make that kind of money every month but i wouldn't want to earn it that way
So let me get this straight, you would kill for it, but not infect peoples computers?
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It'll be very interesting to see if this kind of problem will be as prevalent in the near future now that the generation of kids that grew up with computers is getting out of college. Though, given from what I saw working for the campus IT, the answer is probably yes since most people can't be bothered to know what their computer is doing so long as they can get to their email and facebook.
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