A citizen of Russia Dmitry Olegovich Zubakha was arrested in Cyprus on an international warrant, announced by a US Attorney. The 25-year old criminal was born in Moscow and is charged of conducting denial of service attacks on Amazon, Ebay and Priceline. According to official Ministry of Justice press-release the man is accused of “conspiracy to intentionally cause damage without authorization to a protected computer, and two counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer resulting in a loss of more than $5,000”. He is also charged with possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and aggressive identity theft.
“These cyber bandits do serious harm to our businesses and their customers. But the old adage is true: the arm of the law is long,” said Jenny A. Durkan, attorney who leads the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Enforcement Committee of Justice Department. “This defendant could not hide in cyberspace, and I congratulate the international law enforcement agencies who tracked him down and made this arrest.”
On June 6 and on June 9, 2008 Zubakha allegedly conducted denial of service attacks against Amazon. In both cases the attacks prevented Amazon customers from accessing the service for several hours while the company employees were trying to reestablish normal functionality of the website. Zubakha and another hacker from Russia claimed responsibility for the disruptions on Amazon.com in specialized hacker forums.
“The investigation culminating in the arrest of Dmitry Zubakha by authorities in Cyprus was extremely complex. The apprehension of Zubakha is the result of a concerted effort by the Secret Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington and the Seattle Police Department. I would also like to commend Amazon.com for its forthrightness and assistance in dealing with this series of computer network attacks which had the potential to adversely impact the company's ability to serve its customers,” said James Helminski, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Seattle.
If the hacker is extradited to the USA and if court confirms all the charges Zubakha might stay in prison for up to 27 years and pay $500 000 fine.
DoJ press release is accessible here.
