Hackerul roman Mihai Ionut Paunescu asteapta extradarea in SUA

Mihai Ionut Paunescu este mentionat in procesul  cetateanului rus Nikita Kuzmin creatorul virusului ,,GOZI”. Romanul este arestat in Romania din anul 2012 si impreuna cu cetateni  rusi si lituanieni au inventat si infectat milioane de computere inclusiv NASA  care s-a constituit parte in procesul lui Nikita Kuzmin.

Conform FBI  ,,On January 5, 2016, Deniss Calovskis, a/k/a “Miami,” a Latvian national who wrote the computer code for certain “web injects” that enabled Gozi to target information from particular banks, was sentenced to time served (21 months) for his role in the offense.  Mihai Ionut Paunescu, a/k/a “Virus,” a Romanian national who allegedly ran a “bulletproof hosting” service that enabled cybercriminals to distribute Gozi and other notorious malware, was arrested in Romania in December 2012 and currently awaits extradition to the United States.”

In addition to creating Gozi, KUZMIN developed an innovative means of distributing and profiting from it.  Unlike many cybercriminals at the time, who profited from malware solely by using it to steal money, KUZMIN rented out Gozi to other criminals, pioneering the model of cybercriminals as service providers for other criminals.  For a fee of $500 a week paid in WebMoney, a digital currency widely used by cybercriminals, KUZMIN rented the Gozi “executable,” the file that could be used to infect victims with Gozi malware, to other criminals.   KUZMIN designed Gozi to work with customized “web injects” created by other criminals that could be used to enable the malware to target information from specific banks; for example, criminals who sought to target customers of particular American banks could purchase web injects that caused the malware to search for and steal information associated with those banks.   Once KUZMIN’s customers succeeded in infecting victims’ computers with Gozi, the malware caused victims’ bank account information to be sent to a server that KUZMIN controlled where, as long as the criminals had paid their weekly rental fee, KUZMIN gave them access to it.  KUZMIN, who used the online identity “76,” advertised this cybercriminal business, which he called “76 Service,” on underground cybercriminal forums.  KUZMIN made at least a quarter of a million dollars renting and selling Gozi to other criminals.

In the course of the investigation, Gozi was found to have infected over one million computers across the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, France, Finland, Italy, Turkey, and other countries.  U.S. victims include individuals, companies, and others, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”).  Gozi caused at least tens of millions of dollars in losses to victims.

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Sursa: FBI

By

Robert Williams

Editor in Chief