Latvians indicted over malware service

Two men from Latvia ran a malware service that has been in operation for over a decade and used in major attacks against U.S. businesses, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria.

The men, Ruslans Bondars and Jurijs Martisevs, along with a co-conspirator identified only as “Z.S.” of Great Falls, Va., designed hacking software that they marketed on cybercrime websites, according to prosecutors.

The hidden service was accessible via the encrypted network Tor and has been operational since late 2006, prosecutors said. The tools they sold include “some of the most prolific malware known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” according to the indictment, and the software “has been used in major computer intrusions committed against American businesses.” It had at least 30,000 users, according to prosecutors.

The indictment does not detail which businesses allegedly were impacted by the malware, or what damage was done by the attacks.

AP/The Herald-Palladium/DON CAMPBELL Daniel Daniel (left) and Alan Selvidge, members of the Deep Fried Pickle Project, perform Wednesday as part of the Brown Bag Concert Series at the John E.N. Howard Bandshell in downtown St. Joseph, Mich.