ARN

Dutch police arrest 19-year-old accused of bot herding

Dutch Police have arrested two brothers suspected of running a botnet containing up to 100,000 computers.

Authorities in the Netherlands have arrested a 19-year-old man and his 16-year-old brother for running and selling a botnet.

The computer hacker is alleged to have built a botnet controlling 40,000 to 100,000 computers across the world. Authorities estimate that 1,100 of the hacked computers were based in the Netherlands.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation first started investigating the botnet and contacted Dutch authorities for assistance.

The man was arrested on Thursday, and the arrest made public on Friday. Dutch Authorities as a rule don't release the names of suspecs for privacy reasons.

After building up the botnet network, the man is alleged to have sold it for an estimated Euro 25,000 (AU$41,800) to someone in Brazil. The buyer has been arrested and is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

The alleged bot herder faces trial in the Netherlands, where he will face charges including breaking into computers.

The investigation also implicated the main suspect's 16-year-old brother. He too has been arrested, but was released pending further investigations. The main suspect will be arraigned on Friday when he is expected to be kept in prison for an additional 14 days to allow for further investigations.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Brother, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
Australasian PC Distributors (APCD) , Express Online , Multimedia Technology , Synnex Australia , XiT Distribution , Dynamic Supplies
ARN Directory | Vendors relevant to this article
Brother
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/whitegold-solutions/2012-05-22_443_free-allied-telesis-wireless-router
WhiteGold Solutions

Free Allied Telesis Wireless Router

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.