Severa – Computer Security Articles

Alleged Spam Kingpin ‘Severa’ Extradited to US

February 5, 2018 admin Alan Ralsky, Artem Sergeev, Conficker, Cosma, Dmitri A. Sergeev, fake news, Kelihos, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, Ne'er-Do-Well News, Peter Severa, Pyotr Yuryevich Levashov, Sergey Vladomirovich Sergeev, Severa, Spam Nation, Spamit, Vladimir V. Putin, waledac, wired.com

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2018 18:28:30 +0000

Peter Yuryevich Levashov, a 37-year-old Russian computer programmer thought to be one of the world’s most notorious spam kingpins, has been extradited to the United States to face federal hacking and spamming charges. Levashov, who allegedly went by the hacker name “Peter Severa,” or “Peter of the North,” hails from St. Petersburg in northern Russia, but he was arrested last year while in Barcelona, Spain with his family. Authorities have long suspected he is the cybercriminal behind the once powerful spam botnet known as Waledac (a.k.a. “Kelihos”), a now-defunct malware strain responsible for sending more than 1.5 billion spam, phishing and malware attacks each day.

Independent Krebs

Fake News at Work in Spam Kingpin’s Arrest?

April 11, 2017 admin Other, Peter Levashov arrest, Pyotr Levashov, RT, russia today, Severa, The New York Times

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2017 15:51:46 +0000

Over the past several days, many Western news media outlets have predictably devoured thinly-sourced reporting from a Russian publication that the arrest last week of a Russian spam kingpin in Spain was related to hacking attacks linked to last year’s U.S. election. While there is scant evidence that the spammer’s arrest had anything to do with the election, the success of that narrative is a sterling example of how the Kremlin’s propaganda machine is adept at manufacturing fake news, undermining public trust in the media, and distracting attention away from the real story.