Men Behind the Mariposa botnet Arrested in Spain

Police in Spain have managed to track down and arrest three men responsible for creating one of the world’s biggest and most successful botnets.

The infamous Mariposa botnet is responsible for infecting more than 13 million computers, and thieving thousands of credit card numbers and other personal data.

Throughout its lifetime, the botnet infected machines in more than 195 countries and more than 1000 of the world’s largest companies.

“It was so nasty, we thought ‘We have to turn this off. We have to cut off the head,’” said Chris Davis, CEO of Defense Intelligence Inc.

The virus was contained in December of 2009, but not before millions of dollars disappeared from unsuspecting people from all parts of the world.

“Mariposa’s the biggest ever to be shut down, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. These things come up constantly,” said Mark Rasch, former head of the U.S. Department of Justice computer crimes unit.

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