An Estonian national has pleaded guilty in a US court to two counts of fraud and computer misuse for his role in creating and operating a proxy botnet .
This is 33-year-old Pavel Tsurkan, who hacked more than 1,000 computers and routers around the world, notably in Alaska alone, with over 60 victims. Tsurkan then used these devices to create an Internet of Things (IoT) botnet called “Russian2015”, which operated using the domain Russian2015.ru.
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According to court documents, the 33-year-old man modified the settings of the compromised routers, aiming to use them as proxies and transmit third-party Internet traffic through them.
The accused Estonian sold access to the botnet to cybercriminals from around the world, who in turn used it in spam campaigns as well as other criminal activities.
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The US Department of Justice (DoJ) reported that Tsurkan caused significant data overages to victims located in Alaska, abusing their routers even when no computers were connected to their home networks. This resulted in victims being charged hundreds or thousands of dollars for traffic generated by the botnet.
Tsurkan's trial is scheduled for November 10, 2021 , with the Estonian facing a prison sentence of up to 10 years .
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Bryan Wilson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, said: “Modern cybercriminals rely on increasingly sophisticated techniques to compromise computers and personal electronic devices for their criminal activities. Botnets like ‘Russian2015’ are a dangerous threat to all Americans, and today’s guilty verdict shows that we can and will hold foreign cybercriminals and their enablers accountable.”
Information source: securityweek.com
