Alleged Mariposa bot master goes on trial

A programmer, thought to have made the Mariposa botnet which compromised millions of computers around the globe, has gone on trial in Slovenia.

Matjaž Škorjanc, who is 26 years old, is believed by the authorities to be the hacker recognized as “Iserdo”, and was apprehended  in the city of Maribor, Slovenia two years ago.  He has been awaiting trial for two years in a prison authorities would not release the name of.

Škorjanc’s arrest followed an international investigation by the FBI and Slovenian and Spanish police.

A tweet from the Slovene Press Agency:

26-year-old Slovenian hacker "Iserdo" stands accused of being the mastermind behind the Mariposa botnet in trial that started today

— Slovene Press Agency (@STA_English) August 6, 2012

Authorities had succeeded in overturning the Mariposa botnet at the end of 2009, but at its pinnacle, the botnet (named after the Spanish word for “butterfly”) had silently infected almost 13 million computers in more than 190 countries.

The computers which where infected had been hijacked by hackers after being infected by the polymorphic W32/Rimecud family of malware, which spread itself thru a quantity of techniques including copying itself to removable memory devices, instant messaging and P2P file-sharing systems.

According to police, code created by the masterminds of the Mariposa botnet was sold to hundreds of other cybercriminals around the world.

Škorjanc’s former girlfriend, Nuša Čoh, is also standing trial – accused of being an accomplice in alleged money laundering.