Published in News

Microsoft names and shames malware makers

by on03 July 2012



Creators of Zeus came forth from Uranus


Software giant Microsoft has named and shamed of two men it believes to be the ringleaders of the Zeus Botnet.

Ukranians Yevhen Kulibaba and Yuriy Konovalenko are supposed to be the brains behind the Zeus botnet. Both are being held by authorities in the UK on another charge related to malware. The Zeus botnet malware allows a remote attacker to embed code into local HTML files and turned legitimate web pages into phishing tools.

Microsoft said that it tried to protect innocent people by disrupting the Zeus business model and increasing the cost of doing business for cybercriminals. Writing in his bog, Microsoft digital crimes unit senior attorney Richard Boscovich said he was already seeing proof that our disruptive actions were successful in achieving this goal.

Microsoft also revealed that the number of attempts at spreading the Zeus botnet Trojan dropped from 780,000 for one week in March to 336,000 during a week in June. The company said, "These successful results represent a significant advancement for the people that Microsoft, the financial industry and law enforcement are all focused on protecting as customers and citizens."

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