POLICE IN SLOVENIA have arrested a computer hacker who they believe is responsible for unleashing a virus that affected over 12 million computers across the world.
It is believed that the 23-year-old is the creator of the programme behind the Mariposa Virus – otherwise known as the “butterfly bot” – which was developed to steal financial details and was even found in the systems of banks and major companies.
The programme was a so-called “botnet”; a malicious virus that can be remotely controlled by hackers and programmed to do a range of tasks from sending spam emails to collecting bank information.
Three men were arrested in Spain last year in connection with managing the Mariposa Virus.
The virus’s code was reportedly changed every 48 hours to deceive anti-virus software programmes. However, botnets become faster to detect the wider they spread across networks, and the Mariposa Virus spread unusually far.
The arrested man had not been identified, and is known only as “Iserdo”.
