In its heyday, Kelihos comprised up to 100,000 compromised devices that were capable of blasting out billions of malware-laden emails every day
ARussian national has pleaded guilty in a US court to operating Kelihos, one of the longest-running and most pernicious botnets that was used, for almost seven years, to send untold numbers of spam emails, pilfer login credentials, and compromise countless computers with banking Trojans, ransomware, and other malicious software.
Peter Levashov, 38, admitted guilt to fraud, conspiracy, computer crime, and identity theft offenses, according to astatement by the US Justice Department.
Kelihos was first discovered in late 2010 and operated until US authorities shut it down nearly seven years later. The takedown operation was announced on April 10, 2017, only a day after Levashov himself was nabbed while vacationing with his family in Spain. The sting operation marked the conclusion of an FBI-led investigation that spanned more than ten...(continued)
