On Thursday, the U.S, Department of Justice announced the arrest of Dmitry Olegovich Zubakha, 25, of Moscow. Zubakha was arrested in Cyprus on an international warrant, issued after he was indicted last year for a series of DDoS attacks against three of the Web’s largest online retailers.
In 2008, Zubakha and another man, whose identity was not disclosed, allegedly launched a series of DDoS attacks against Amazon, Priceline.com, and eBay. The attacks leveraged botnets, and left customers unable to complete transactions. Adding insult to injury, the unknown attacker called Priceline.com and offered his assistance as a consultant in order to stop the attack.
However, according to court records, DDoS wasn’t the only thing Zubakha was into during his time as a criminal at large. Authorities traced more than 28,000 stolen credit card numbers to him and his friend.
In the end, after a four year process, Zubakha stands charged with conspiracy to intentionally cause damage without authorization to a protected computer, and two counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer resulting in a loss of more than $5,000. In addition, he is also charged with possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, and aggravated identity theft due to his credit card collection.
He faces up to 37 years in prison and more than $500,000 in fines. He remains in custody in Cyprus pending extradition.