UPDATE: 4/10/17
Madrid: A Russian computer programmer, Pyotr Levashov, has been arrested in the Spanish city of Barcelona, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid said on Sunday. It was unclear why Levashov was arrested. The embassy spokesman declined to give details for his arrest, and Spanish police and the interior ministry were not available for comment on Sunday.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US Justice Department's criminal division, said: "The US case remains under seal, so we have no information to provide at this time." The criminal division is separate from the national security division, which is responsible for investigating state-sponsored cyber crimes. A US Department of Justice official said it was a criminal matter without an apparent national security connection.
April 10: For more about the recent arrest in Barcelona, see: Breaking? Russian arrested in Spain, connected to U.S. election hacking.... Updated In the update, the dailykos diary mentions a New York Times article which has information about the possible identity of the man arrested. It also points out that criminal hacker tools can be repurposed for political ends. www.nytimes.com/…
April 10 video: Spammer's arrest eyed for Trump Russia ties “Rachel Maddow reports on the latest developments in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possibility of coordination with the Donald Trump campaign, including the arrest of a Russian hacker in Spain. Duration: 13:54
Here’s another article (4/10/17) with pictures of some of the hackers and more details: www.nbcnews.com/…
Here are some quotes from a long press release from the DOJ 4/10/17: Justice Department Announces Actions to Dismantle Kelihos Botnet
The Justice Department today announced an extensive effort to disrupt and dismantle the Kelihos botnet – a global network of tens of thousands of infected computers under the control of a cybercriminal that was used to facilitate malicious activities including harvesting login credentials, distributing hundreds of millions of spam e-mails, and installing ransomware and other malicious software….
“The operation announced today targeted an ongoing international scheme that was distributing hundreds of millions of fraudulent e-mails per year, intercepting the credentials to online and financial accounts belonging to thousands of Americans, and spreading ransomware throughout our networks. The ability of botnets like Kelihos to be weaponized quickly for vast and varied types of harms is a dangerous and deep threat to all Americans, driving at the core of how we communicate, network, earn a living, and live our everyday lives….Our success in disrupting the Kelihos botnet was the result of strong cooperation between private industry experts and law enforcement, and the use of innovative legal and technical tactics. The Department of Justice is committed to combatting cybercrime, no matter the size or sophistication of the scheme, and to punish those who are engaged in such crimes.”
….On April 8, 2017, we started the extraordinary task of blocking malicious domains associated with the Khelios botnet to prohibit further infections….This case demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to finding and eradicating cyber threats no matter where they are in the world.”
Kelihos malware targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. Infected computers became part of a network of compromised computers known as a botnet and were controlled remotely through a decentralized command and control system. According to the civil complaint, Peter Yuryevich Levashov allegedly operated the Kelihos botnet since approximately 2010…..
Tuesday, April 11: Accused Yahoo hacker denied bail in Ontario court; awaits extradition to the U.S.
The charges against Baratov stem from a hacking of Yahoo’s system where Baratov and his associates may have gained access to hundreds of millions of Yahoo user accounts. Baratov was among four men indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges related to computer hacking, economic espionage and other offences.According to the U.S., the four are alleged to have hacked into Yahoo's systems and stolen information from more than 500 million user accounts. FBI investigators described Baratov in court documents as a "hacker-for-hire," a flight risk and a "danger to the community," who has more than $210,000 in "just one of his multiple" online accounts.
The other three men were in Russia when Baratov was arrested in Ancaster, Ont., on March 14. Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
4/14/17: Catching Russian spies, www.thedailybeast.com/…
Estonia is Europe’s leading catcher of Vladimir Putin’s spies as well as Europe’s leading unmasker of his manifold agents of influence. Every year for the past 18 years, Estonia’s domestic security service publishes its annual review of the country’s most attention-grabbing incidents in counterintelligence, terrorism, and corruption, categories that very often overlap. Most of the 45-page document is devoted to a subject with which this small but formidable Baltic power has had ample experience: Russian operatives and disinformation campaigns, now better known as “fake news.”
12/1/17: Federal judge in Atlanta sentences Russian hacker to prison