The Register is reporting that police in Slovenia have arrested a 23-year-old man, who went by the handle Iserdo, and charged him with writing and selling the code that has been used to create the Mariposa botnet.
Iserdo and two other suspects were taken into custody in Maribor, Slovenia, two weeks ago in the wake of an investigation by the FBI, Spanish Guardia Civil and Slovenian police, officials said.
The Mariposa bot crime kit, which was sold for $500-$1,300 on underground sites, was used by operators to create the botnet of 12-million computers used to steal banking credentials as well as other online crime.
The authorities have taken down Iserdo’s web site as well as the main Mariposa command-and-control servers.
Story here: “Mariposa mastermind arrested in Slovenia”
In March, the Guardia Civil in Spain arrested three people in connection with the Mariposa botnet as part of an investigation that began in 2009.
Sunbelt Blog story here: “Spain arrests three, shuts down Mariposa botnet”
Tom Kelchner