Last week a Russian man, accused of responsibility for over a third of distributed spam, was arrested. I have discussed botnets in an earlier blog. The information on the arrest provides background on this annoying crime. The man is responsible for the Mega-D automated botnet.
The 23-year old Oleg Nikolaenko pleaded not guilty, but was denied bail because he was considered a flight risk. According to the article about the accused at http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/12/03/spam.king.arraignment/index.html - the man has been followed for the past three years. According to the article the spammer earned almost half a million dollars in just six months during 2007.
The botnets spue spam ranging from erectile dysfunction drugs, to herbal remedies, and counterfeit watches. The botnet originator is termed a "bot herder." Bot herders control targeted computers, known as "zombies," from a remote location. "Honeypots" are used to track the bad guys. To find out more, you might want to read a How Stuff Works article at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/how-to-fix-zombie-computer2.htm
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