Kelihos Botnet Author Indicted in U.S.

The alleged author of the Kelihos botnet has been charged in an eight-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, after being arrested in Spain earlier this month.

Peter Yuryevich Levashov, 36, a Russian national also known as Petr Levashov, Peter Severa, Petr Severa and Sergey Astakhov, was charged last week with one count of causing intentional damage to a protected computer, one count of conspiracy, one count of accessing protected computers in furtherance of fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of threatening to damage a protected computer, two counts of fraud in connection with email, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Levashov is accused of operating the Kelihos botnet, a global network of tens of thousands of infected computers. The botnet, which the Department of Justice says was dismantled earlier this month, was used in malicious activities such as the harvesting of login credentials, the distribution of bulk spam e-mails, and the spreading of ransomware and other malicious software.

The indictment also alleges that Levashov used the Kelihos botnet to send spam e-mails that advertise various criminal schemes, including pump-and-dump stock fraud (stocks were deceptively promoted to fraudulently increase their price).

At the time of the takedown, Kelihos was one of the largest botnets out there, after tripling in size in a 24-hour window last year. At the beginning of the year, the bot was observed packing worm-like spreading capabilities, and soon became the top malicious threat, according to Check Point’s Top 10 malware.

Levashov was arrested in Barcelona on April 7, 2017 and has been detained since. The Department of Justice is currently seeking his extradition. 

Related: Alleged Kelihos Botnet Author Arrested in Spain

Related: US Takes Down Huge Botnet as Spain Arrests Notorious Russian Hacker