There's At Least One Botnet Shut Down

A US-based security firm claims to have shut down the 'Mariposa' botnet.

The cybercriminals behind the Mariposa botnet, which attacked 13 million computers worldwide stealing sensitive personal data such as social networking logins and credit card details, have been arrested, says Panda Security and Defence Intelligence.

According to the security vendors, the botnet, which takes its moniker from the Spanish word for Butterfly was shut down in December last year, while the main operators 'Netkairo' and 'hamlet1917', along with 'Ostiator' and 'Johnyloleante' were arrested this month.

According to Christopher Davis, CEO for Defence Intelligence, who first discovered Mariposa, the botnet was one of the largest in the world and not only targeted consumers but also multi-national companies and government agencies.

Pedro Bustamante, senior research advisor at Panda Security, said: "Our preliminary analysis indicates that the botmasters did not have advanced hacking skills".

"This is very alarming because it proves how sophisticated and effective malware distribution software has become, empowering relatively unskilled cyber criminals to inflict major damage and financial loss."

Mariposa was spread after hackers exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft's web browser Internet Explorer. It was also spread by USB sticks and malicious links sent using Microsoft's MSN instant messenger.

By: Brant