In the United States, Russian programmer Pyotr Levashov pleaded guilty to cybercrimes

In the United States, Russian programmer Pyotr Levashov pleaded guilty to fraud, conspiracy, cybercrime and identity theft, according to the website of the US Department of Justice.

The 38-year-old programmer, known under the pseudonyms Peter Severa , “Peter Severa” and “Sergei Astakhov,” declared his guilt in court in Hartford, Connecticut.

“For more than two decades, Peter Levashov operated botnets that allowed him to collect personal information from infected computers and distribute spam and malware for numerous attacks,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benchowski.

Levashov was detained in the spring of 2017 in Barcelona, ​​Spain, at the request of the United States. According to investigators, Levashov managed the spam botnet Kelihos, which remotely collected personal data and methods of identifying users on infected computers. Devices were infected using spam and malicious software. In February 2018, Spain extradited Levashov to the United States.