The men allegedly used a computer virus to gain access to data
from 13 million PCs in almost every country in the world. All aged
between 25 and 31, the men were only identified by their online aliases.
The suspected ringleader, known as "Netkairo" or "hamlet1917" was
arrested in February along with two accomplices, "Ostiator" and
"Johnyloleante." One had data from more than 800,000 users on his
computer when arrested.
The group made each infected computer part of its botnet - a virtual
army of computers that could execute their commands. Their network was
known as Mariposa, the Spanish word for butterfly. The ringleaders then
sold the information, which included passwords, usernames, and credit
card information, to other hackers, criminal syndicates, and individual
criminals.
Their reach spread to 190 countries. Their victims were users in
homes, schools, half of the world's 1,000 largest companies and more
than 40 financial institutions.
Shrewd, but 'not that smart'
The virus first spread through a security hole in Microsoft Internet
Explorer, said Defence Intelligence head Chris Davis, whose computer
security firm helped break the ring. Later it proliferated through links
sent using Microsoft's instant messaging program, and through memory
sticks that were used in infected computers.
The arrests came after Spanish police, the FBI and several computer
security companies managed to dismantle the network in December.
"The guys involved with this botnet were not that smart," Javier
Merzan, a spokesman for Panda Security, one of the companies that broke
the network, told Deutsche Welle. "[After] we blocked the botnet, [one
suspect] was trying to set it live again from his home computer. We were
able to track the IP address and the police department here was able to
know exactly where he was."
svs/AFP/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton
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