Mariposa Description

Type: Possibly Unwanted Program

Mariposa, Spanish for 'butterfly,' is a large Slovenian botnet that has been used to steal important banking information. The Mariposa botnet has infected millions of computer users and has compromised computers belonging to some of the world's most important companies and many of the world's largest banks. Also known as the Butterfly Bot Kit, Mariposa integrates infected computers into a vast botnet used to propagate this threat while also stealing credit card numbers, online bank account information and online passwords. Mariposa is a definite threat to your computer's security. To avoid becoming infected with Mariposa, ESG security analysts strongly advise protecting your computer with a fully-updated anti-malware tool.

Mariposa is Used to Carry Out Various Online Scams

The Mariposa botnet was used to carry out various malicious tasks, including the following:

  1. The Mariposa botnet has been used to send out large quantities of spam email messages.
  2. It has also been used to distribute Trojans designed to force computer users to visit malicious domains containing other potential malware infections.
  3. The criminals behind the Mariposa botnet also use this botnet to distribute browser hijackers in an attempt to generate illegal revenues using online advertisements and annoying pop-up advertisements.
  4. ESG security researchers have also linked the Mariposa botnet to several Distributed Denial of Service attacks on important targets. These consist mainly in overloading a particular website or server with requests, forcing it to shut down.

The Creator of Mariposa is on Trial in Slovenia

Law enforcement officials have been after the criminals behind Mariposa for quite a long time. This malicious botnet has been responsible for the loss of considerable revenue and has attacked many high-profile targets. Matjaz Skorjanc (who goes under the online name 'Iserdo') is considered the creator of the Mariposa botnet. In the first week of August of 2012, this hacker was put on trial in Slovenia. Trapping the people behind this botnet was not easy. It began with a high-profile arrest in Spain that took place in March of 2010 in which several criminals associated with the Mariposa botnet were arrested. These criminals had bought the code for Mariposa from another group an allowed the FBI and PC security analysts to track down Matjaz Skorjanc in Slovenia. Apparently, he earned more than a hundred thousand Euros by selling Mariposa's code to other criminals, allowing them to steal banking data themselves.

