Security News > 2021 > July > Russian Hacker Levashov Sentenced to Time Already Served

A Russian hacker known internationally as the "Bot master" was sentenced Tuesday to the 33 months he has already served in custody on federal charges he operated a network of devices used to steal computer credentials, distribute spam and install malicious software.

In their written presentencing arguments, prosecutors said Levashov spent more than a decade controlling the botnets - including one that may have infected 200,000 computers - to harvest email addresses, logins and passwords from infected computers and also distributed malware and other malicious software.

Prosecutors said Levashov had also moderated online forums used to sell and trade stolen identities and credit card numbers.

Russian authorities fought his extradition, but Levashov was eventually transferred to the U.S. He was prosecuted in Connecticut because the FBI's New Haven office investigated the case through its Connecticut Cyber Task Force and some of the hijacked computers were located in this state, authorities said.

Levashov has been out of prison on electronic monitoring since January 2020.

Levashov's lawyer, Vadim Glozman, in arguing for the sentence of time served, said his client's hacking was not complex enough to warrant a harsher sentence.

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