Russian Hacker Detained for Botnet Attack on Amazon

By The Moscow Times

July 22, 2012

The attacks caused Amazon serious financial losses, according to an indictment read out in a Washington courtroom.

Cyprus police detained a Russian hacker accused of orchestrating attacks on online stores including Amazon and stealing personal data for more than 28,000 credit cards, a technology news site reported.

Moscow resident Dmitry Zubakha was detained on an international search warrant Wednesday, ZDNet reported, citing the U.S. Department of Justice, and is awaiting a decision about being extradited to the United States.

U.S. law enforcement agencies suspect Zubakha of using botnets to overwhelm the systems at Amazon, Priceline and eBay in distributed-denial-of-service attacks beginning in 2008.

The attacks caused Amazon serious financial losses, according to an indictment read out in a Washington courtroom Thursday, ZDNet reported.

Zubakha faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if found guilty.

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