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Alleged `botmaster' nabbed in LA for hijacking computers

US authorities on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly hijacking thousands of computers to launch spam attacks in what officials say is the first prosecution of its kind.

Among the computers that Jeanson Ancheta, 20, is accused of infecting with malicious software are computers at the Weapons Division of the sensitive US Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California.

He allegedly infected "armies" of computers with malicious software turning them into "bots" that are then used to launch destructive attacks on servers or send huge quantities of spam, or unwanted e-mail, according to prosecutors. Ancheta, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, is a "botmaster" who controlled "botnets," which are armies of computers hooked up to the Internet, the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles alleged.

Ancheta allegedly wrote and spread a malicious code known as a Trojan horse, which caused the computers to become part of the bot network without the knowledge or consent of their owners.

The botnets, each with thousands of Internet-connected computers, then reported to an Internet Relay Chat channel Ancheta controlled, prosecutors allege. In a separate IRC channel, Ancheta allegedly advertised the sale of his botnets for spam purposes -- thereby illegally profiting from his crime -- or for launching denial-of-service attacks.

After receiving payment from customers, Ancheta would allegedly give customers control of enough botnets to accomplish their specified task, along with an instruction manual, according to prosecutors. He is also accused of allowing advertising software to be downloaded onto the infected computers that were part of his botnet armies. Prosecutors say Ancheta was an affiliate of several different advertising service companies, which paid him a commission based on how many computers he infected with so-called "adware."

He allegedly made about US$60,000 in advertising affiliate proceeds by causing the installation of adware on about 400,000 computers. If convicted of all the charges in the indictment, Ancheta faces up to 50 years in prison.
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