5/10/10
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Mariposa botnet suspects applied for security jobs at firm that brought botnet down
The Register reported on Tuesday that two of the three suspects responsible for running the Mariposa botnet in February had applied for security jobs with Panda Security in Spain. Ironically, Panda was the firm that originally worked with Defence Intelligence, the FBI and Spain's Guardia Civil to bring the zombie botnet down in February.
Police suspected five people for running the malicious software program, though only three were arrested. A month later, two of those taken away, known by their nicknames Netkairo and Ostiator, appeared at the security firm with resumes in hand.
They met with Panda Labs technical director Luis Corrons, who initially thought the meeting was a joke, and informed him that they needed jobs, but had no programming skills.
“They didn't admit to any wrongdoing during this meeting but said they had some knowledge and experience that might be helpful and asked to come to an agreement,” Corrons told the Register. Panda did not hire either person.
Spanish police reportedly recovered confidential information for more than 800,000 people after confiscating systems from the responsible suspects.
The Guardian reported in March that the Mariposa botnet controlled computers in more than 500 of the U.S. Fortune 1,000 companies and more than 40 major banks.
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