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Feed A computer hacker has been arrested in Slovenia on suspicion of creating the
infamous Mariposa virus that infected nearly 13 million computers across the
globe before being disabled late last year.
A Slovenian national police
spokesman said Wednesday the 23-year-old suspect, known as Iserdo, was taken
into custody early last week as part of a joint U.S.-Slovenian probe. The
FBI confirmed the arrest Tuesday.
The Mariposa virus allowed hackers to
steal vital information from infected computers, including credit card data and
online banking credentials. FBI Director Robert Mueller said earlier this
year that Mariposa had infected computers of Fortune 1000 companies and major
banks.
The latest arrest comes five months after Spanish police
arrested three of the scam's alleged ringleaders accused of operating the
so-called Mariposa botnet -- the huge string of infected computers.
There have been no official estimates of damage or losses linked
to the virus.
Slovenian media say three former students of Slovenia's
University of Maribor appear tied to the case, saying they were recently
detained and interrogated by Slovenian police and the FBI. The Associated
Press says authorities seized computer equipment belonging to the
students.
The news agency also quotes an FBI spokesman as saying more
arrests are expected.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
