Authorities are seeking jailterms of up to 3 years against two
botnet operators who alleged to have commanded a network of 1.5m
computers.
The 20 and 29 year old Dutch male suspects are accused of to have
constructing two viruses that were set free on the internet. The
Toxbot worm was used to recruit a worldwide network of zombie PCs
on which they installed adware software. They deployed the
Wayphisher worm to steal credit card information and account
information for online banks.
The operation netted an estimated total of 60,000 over a period of
6 months.
The Dutch public attorney is seeking a three years jail term for
the 20-year-old. His accomplice is facing a maximum jail term of
two years.
The two have consistently denied all charges, according to local
media reports. Evidence however has been gathered from the accused
computers, witness statements as well as wire taps on the suspect's
internet connections and phone lines.
Dutch authorities as a rule don't release the identity of suspects.
Four more individuals are awaiting trial in the case, including the
alleged 22-year-old ring leader.
The last is also facing charges from the FBI for launching a denial
of service attack against the Zango adware network. He is believed
to have undertaken the attack in retaliation for the company's
refusal to pay affiliate fees for the adware installations on the
computers that were under the group's control.
Zango earlier filed a legal complaint against the man for violating
its policies, but has since dropped the charges to allow the FBI
case to advance.