Algerian hacker and developer of malicious SpyEye malware Hamza
Bendelladj has been sentenced by a US court to 15 years in prison and
three years of supervised release on charges related to his role in
developing and distributing the virus.
Bendelladj, 27, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to
commit wire and bank fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of
conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse, and 11 counts of computer
fraud and abuse. He had faced 60 years prison and a $24m fine.
Bendelladj's court-appointed attorney, Jay L. Strongwater of Atlanta,
told Al Jazeera that his client pleaded guilty and accepted
responsibility for his actions.
His crimes are estimated to have cost at least $100m.
Bendelladj and co-defendant Russian Aleksandr Andreevich Panin formed a
computer-hacking crime ring that set out to steal money from bank
accounts of individuals and institutions by infecting millions of
computers in the US.
Panin had also pleaded guilty to the charges against him and was
sentenced on Wednesday to nine years and six months in prison to be
followed by three years of supervised release.
John Horn, US attorney for the northern district of Georgia, said in a press statement
that "it is difficult to overstate the significance of this case, not
only in terms of bringing two prolific computer hackers to justice, but
also in disrupting and preventing immeasurable financial losses to
individuals and the financial industry around the world".
Bendelladj was traveling from Malaysia to Algeria when he arrested
in transit in Thailand in 2013 and later extradited to the US.
The Justice Department statement quoted Horn as saying: "Until
dismantled by the FBI, SpyEye was the pre-eminent malware banking Trojan
from 2010-2012, used by a global syndicate of cyber-criminals to infect
more than 50 million computers, causing close to $1bn in financial harm
to individuals and financial institutions around the globe".
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/hacker-hamza-bendelladj-sentenced-15-years-160422104149553.html
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