Dmitry Fedotov, a Russian national who
created the infamous Blackhole exploit kit, was sentenced to 7 years in prison
by a Moscow Court. Known as “Paunch” in the cybercrime world, Fedotov, along
with his seven accomplices, was arrested in October 2013 for involvement in a
criminal organization.
A few months before his arrest, Paunch teamed up with a fraudster known
online as “J.P. Morgan” and announced that they had set aside $100,000 to
acquire zero-day exploits. The budget for zero-days later doubled, and “J.P.
Morgan” increased it to $450,000 after Fedotov’s arrest.
According to a Russian security firm,
Paunch had more than 1,000 customers and was earning $50,000 per month from his
illegal activity. The
Blackhole exploit kit was rented for $500 per month if run on the seller’s server
and $700 if customers wanted to run it on their own server.
Coming into existence in 2010, Blackhole
exploit kit was responsible for large number of malware infections. It was
stitched into malicious sites and exploited
a variety of Web-browser vulnerabilities.
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Russian authorities estimated that
Paunch and his accomplices caused damage of 70 million rubles (approx. $2
million) at the time of his arrest.
