Security News > 2021 > July > Estonian Botnet Operator Pleads Guilty in U.S. Court
An Estonian national has pleaded guilty in a United States court to two counts of computer fraud and abuse over his role in creating and operating a proxy botnet.
He then used these devices to create an Internet of Things botnet called "Russian2015," which he operated using the domain Russian2015.
According to court documents, Tsurkan modified the settings of the compromised routers to use them as proxies and transmit third-party internet traffic through them.
The defendant sold access to the botnet to global cybercriminals who leveraged it for spam campaigns and other criminal activities.
Victims ended up getting charged hundreds or thousands of dollars for the traffic generated by the botnet.
"Today's cybercriminals rely on increasingly sophisticated techniques to hijack computers and personal electronic devices for their criminal activities. Botnets like the 'Russian2015' are a dangerous threat to all Americans and today's guilty plea demonstrates we can and will hold accountable foreign cybercriminals and their enablers," said Bryan Wilson, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska.