Russia`s Hermes Charged With Creating 4.5 Million-Computer Wonder Botnet

After a 10 month chase by Russian Police authorities, a 22 year old hacker who goes by the nicknames of Hermes or Arashi was caught and charged with having created and milked “the largest publicly known botnet to date”, according to a report by h-online.com

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, the attacker relied on variants of Carberp and other banking Trojans to steal banking credentials from approximately 6 million computers and take an estimated 150 million rubles ($4.5 million). The money would be transferred on behalf of unsuspecting individuals and organizations to bogus companies, then withdrawn from ATMs by the mastermind`s lieutenants.

It appears that Hermes` money-making scheme was based on millions of baits sent out and approximately 100,000 newly infected computers joining the botnet every day. The Russian authorities found out the attacker granted use of the botnet to third parties all over the Russian Federation as well, with main accomplices based in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.