Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

Russian Man Behind Citadel Malware Sentenced to Five Years

 

A man from Russia known to have assisted in creating and disseminating a malicious program called Citadel designed for grabbing personal financial data has been sentenced on July 19 to a 5-yr jail term.

 

According to federal prosecutors, Mark Cohen District Court Judge of USA sentenced Mark Vartanyan, whose other name is "Kolypto" in Atlanta following admission of guilt during March to have committed PC fraud. Vartanyan has been given 2-yrs of credit because he had spent service time, including over 2-yrs of being in custody within Norway after he was arrested in that country during October 2014, reports Associated Press.

 

By admitting guilt to connivance towards carrying out computer fraud, Kolypto eschewed getting risked with 25 years in jail. He further received a 2-yr credit because of the period served on remand inside Norway when he was waiting to be extradited.

 

Vartanyan, arrested during October 2014 inside Norway, was sent to USA during December 2016. However, as per an understanding with United States officials during March this year, his sentence has been reduced in exchange of answering queries from investigators.

 

When staying inside Norway, Vartanyan's occupation was of a 'chief technical officer' at Dignio an e-healthcare firm. Because Vartanyan cooperated with government swiftly as well as showed remorse, he got one shorter 5-yr jail punishment.

 

The Citadel malicious program got distributed widely to steal credentials and the malware package has been created on the basis of Zeus Trojan. Zeus' source code that contained the ability to disable AV solutions so that detection could be avoided got leaked during 2011 which helped in developing various malware programs. Theinquirer.net posted this, July 20, 2017.

 

Making its debut in 2011, the malware worked like a banker Trojan that targeted banking particulars over the Internet; credit card details along with other information. Resulting in over $500m in losses, the malware has been described as a highly sophisticated crimeware tool traded on the black market.

 

Before Vartanyan, another Russian man named Dimitry Belorossov too was imprisoned for 4-yrs and 6 months during 2015 following his admission of guilt to accusation associated with Citadel's dissemination.

» SPAMfighter News - 7/25/2017

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next