Russian spammer behind Bredolab faces four-year jail term
updated 11:20 am EDT, Thu May 24, 2012
Cybercriminal sentenced to four years in jail by Armenian court
A cybercriminal who is responsible for hacking into and sabotaging the computers of more than 30 million people has been sentenced to four years in prison. According to the BBC, Georgiy Avanesov was tried and judged by an Armenian court. He was arrested at the country's Yerevan airport in 2010.
His botnet, called Bredolab, launched in 2009 and included techniques such as automated attacks and phishing messages. At its peak, the botnet was sending out over three billion junk mail messages a day. Avanesov rented out his botnet to other cyber criminals as well.
The botnet generated about $126,000 per month in revenue for the 27-year-old Avanesov. Dutch police took control over Bredolab in October, 2010, and started to take it apart to identify Avanesov. He tried a web-based attack but the attempt failed. He was arrested soon thereafter. Armenia is trying its first computer criminal.
