Category Archives: Paras Jha

University DDoS attack leads to $8.6 million fine, house arrest for New Jersey man

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One of the masterminds behind the massive Mirai botnet attack of 2016 has been sentenced after pleading guilty to another set of disruptive attacks on Rutgers University between 2014 and 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey announced Friday. The Department of Justice says that between 2014 and 2016, Paras Jha violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by launching several distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Rutgers University, flooding the university’s network with internet traffic. His attacks paralyzed a central server at Rutgers that maintained a portal that students and faculty use for assignments, prosecutors say. “Jha succeeded in taking the portal offline for multiple consecutive periods, causing damage to Rutgers University, its faculty, and its students,” the DOJ announcement said. For the crime, the 22-year-old from Union County, New Jersey, is being ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution, serve six months of house arrest, and perform 2,500 hours […]

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Mirai Co-Author Gets 6 Months Confinement, $8.6M in Fines for Rutgers Attacks

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The convicted co-author of the highly disruptive Mirai botnet malware strain has been sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service, six months home confinement, and ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution for repeatedly using Mirai to take down Internet services at Rutgers University, his former alma mater. Continue reading Mirai Co-Author Gets 6 Months Confinement, $8.6M in Fines for Rutgers Attacks→

Mirai Botnet Authors Avoid Jail Time

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Citing “extraordinary cooperation” with the government, a court in Alaska on Tuesday sentenced three men to probation, community service and fines for their admitted roles in authoring and using “Mirai,” a potent malware strain used in countless attacks designed to knock Web sites offline — including an enormously powerful attack in 2016 that sidelined this Web site for nearly four days. Continue reading Mirai Botnet Authors Avoid Jail Time→

Alleged ‘Satori’ IoT Botnet Operator Sought Media Spotlight, Got Indicted

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A 20-year-old from Vancouver, Washington was indicted last week on federal hacking charges and for allegedly operating the “Satori” botnet, a malware strain unleashed last year that infected hundreds of thousands of wireless routers and other “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices. This outcome is hardly surprising given that the accused’s alleged alter ego has been relentless in seeking media attention for this global crime machine. Continue reading Alleged ‘Satori’ IoT Botnet Operator Sought Media Spotlight, Got Indicted→

U.K. Man Avoids Jail Time in vDOS Case

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A U.K. man who pleaded guilty to launching more than 2,000 cyberattacks against some of the world’s largest companies has avoided jail time for his role in the attacks. The judge in the case reportedly was moved by pleas for leniency that cited the man’s youth at the time of the attacks and a diagnosis of autism. Continue reading U.K. Man Avoids Jail Time in vDOS Case→

Mirai botnet authors plead guilty

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The authors of the infamous Mirai botnet – used to launch record-breaking Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks last year that knocked major segments of the internet offline – have pleaded guilty to federal cybercrime charges. Continue reading Mirai botnet authors plead guilty→

Three Hackers Plead Guilty to Creating IoT-based Mirai DDoS Botnet

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The U.S. federal officials have arrested three hackers who have pleaded guilty to computer-crimes charges for creating and distributing Mirai botnet that crippled some of the world’s biggest and most popular websites by launching the massive DDoS attac… Continue reading Three Hackers Plead Guilty to Creating IoT-based Mirai DDoS Botnet→

Mirai IoT Botnet Co-Authors Plead Guilty

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The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed the guilty pleas of two men first identified in January 2017 by KrebsOnSecurity as the likely co-authors of Mirai, a malware strain that remotely enslaves so-called “Internet of Things” devices such as security cameras, routers, and digital video recorders for use in large scale attacks designed to knock Web sites and entire networks offline (including multiple major attacks against this site). Continue reading Mirai IoT Botnet Co-Authors Plead Guilty→

Who is Anna-Senpai, the Mirai Worm Author?

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On September 22, 2016, this site was forced offline for nearly four days after it was hit with “Mirai,” a malware strain that enslaves poorly secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices like wireless routers and security cameras into a botnet for use in large cyberattacks. Roughly a week after that assault, the individual(s) who launched that attack — using the name “Anna Senpai” — released the source code for Mirai, spawning dozens of copycat attack armies online.

After months of digging, KrebsOnSecurity is now confident to have uncovered Anna Senpai’s real-life identity, and the identity of at least one co-conspirator who helped to write and modify the malware. Continue reading Who is Anna-Senpai, the Mirai Worm Author?→