Ukraine arrests operator of DDoS botnet with 100,000 bots

Ukrainian law enforcement announced the arrest of a suspect on accusations of running a giant malware botnet of more than 100,000 infected systems.

Authorities said the suspect used their botnet to launch DDoS attacks, send spam, brute-force user account passwords, scan networks for vulnerabilities, and exploit them.

The arrest was announced today by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU):

• The suspect's name was not released.
• The arrest took place in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, in the Kolomyia district.
• SSU officers searched the suspect's house and seized their computer equipment.
• SSU said the suspect had advertised their services via Telegram and closed-access forums.
• The suspect took payment via WebMoney, a Russian money transfer platform banned in Ukraine.

News of the arrest comes after Russian security firm Rostelecom-Solar helped sinkhole the Meris DDoS botnet and after US authorities charged a Turkish national in connection to the WireX botnet.

It is unclear to which malware botnet the suspect arrested in Ukraine is connected. An SSU spokesperson did not return a request for comment.