NiceHash CTO Arrested by German Police Jonathan Ganor 2019-10-02 11:51:35 544 views

Skorjanec to Face Extradition to USA for Creating Virus

As reported by Slovenian news site 24ur.com, the CTO of popular mining platform NiceHash has been arrested by German police earlier today. Matjaz Skorjanec, NiceHash's CTO was arrested at Shchwartbachu, Germany not far from the Slovenian border.

It is important to note that Skorjanec's arrest has nothing to do with his involvement with NiceHash.





The official reason for Skorjanec's arrest was an extradition request by the US Government. This request is due to his involvement in creating the malware Mariposa Botnet. Skorjanec was previously found guilty on charges of distributing the malware in 2010. He served four years and ten months in Slovenian prison for the offense.

American authorities have reopened the case in 2019, and the FBI pressed new charges and arrest warrants against four suspects, one of which was Skorjanec.

If charged, he faces up to 50 years in prison.

Mariposa Botnet Malware

Initially discovered in December 2008, the Mariposa Botnet malware was a particular nasty form of computer virus. It was primarily used in cyberscamming and DDoS (denial of service) attacks. The Mariposa Botnet was allegedly created by a hacking team called DDP team (DÃ­as de Pesadilla Team). Skorjanec was allegedly a key member of that team.

The Mariposa Botnet infected up to 1 million computers across the globe, making it one of the larger botnets. The malware stole personal details, credit card information, and banking details of unwitting users. It is estimated that the botnet received information on over 800,000 individuals.

We have reached out to NiceHash for a comment but have yet to receive a response.

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