TECH

Largest "hacker" in the world extradited to the US

Spammer Pyotr Levashov, 37, a native of St. Petersburg, commonly described as a "hacker", was arrested in April 2017 at the request of the US authorities in Barcelona, where he was vacationing with his family.
He is accused of fraud through electronic means and illegal interception of communications. He was presented to a federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Friday, which ordered his arrest, despite appealing to innocence.
Spanish police source says that the extradition was authorized in October by the National Court of Spain. The decision was contested by Russia, which had asked the Spanish court to reject the request for extradition presented by the Americans.
US prosecutors have accused Levashov of inter alia illegally hijacking personal computers through malicious software, then using them to spread "billions" of unsolicited e-mail.
The Russian is accused of using a "botnet" (a set of Internet-connected programs that communicate with other similar programs in order to perform tasks) to "hijack" more than 100,000 personal computers. In this way you will spread fraudulent ads, sell illegal drugs, as well as violate private communications, even accessing the passwords with which you have made banking operations.
Russian lawyers say the case has political motivations and that Americans have other reasons to order their arrest.

Lusa