Nikolayenko Oleg

Spammer.

On December 3, 2010 the federal court of the State of Wisconsin began to hear criminal case against the 23-year-old Muscovite Oleg Nikolayenko. He was arrested on an automobile show in Las Vegas a month ago. According to Associated Press (AP), the prosecutor's office accuses Nikolayenko in violation of the law of the USA about fight against a pornography and uninvited advertizing accepted in 2003^[1].

First, the organization of the international network from more than 500,000 computers on which without the knowledge of their users the malware sending billions of e-mails was implemented is charged to it. In some days 32% of all world spam, said in testimonies of one of FBI agents which fragment last week published the website The Smoking Gun were the share of these letters. And all the network of the infected computers (botnet) created with Nikolayenko's participation and which received the name Mega-D could generate 10 billion letters a day.

Secondly, Nikolayenko is accused that he intentionally misled people, advertizing false products using spam. As it appears from materials on The Smoking Gun, FBI and the Federal commission on trade of the USA (FTC) contacted Nikolayenko just through one of sellers of such "goods" — Jody Smith condemned for trade in the counterfeit Rolex watch. Followed from Smith's testimonies that his Affking company used services of the Russian spammers calling themselves Docent and Dem. FTC studied a chat of one of members of Affking — Australian Lens Atkinson where that ordered Docent one of spam mailings. Atkinson paid Docent services on behalf of Genbucks company, sending money through ePassporte electronic payment system to the user of Genbucks_dcent. Only from June 5 to December 14, 2007 Atkinson paid it nearly $460,000. Having opened the account Genbucks_dcent, FBI found out his real name — Oleg Nikolayenko. After that it was necessary only to wait when it arrives to the USA (the fatal visit was already the third to this country).

Three years of prison and $250,000 of a penalty – the maximum punishment which can receive Nikolayenko if the prosecutor's office proves his guilt.

The FBI agent was convinced that the botnet Mega-D advertizes counterfeit goods personally, having ordered "means for increase in a men's potentiality" and having received instead "counterfeit tablets from herbs", AP reports.

The lawyer Nikolayenko Christopher van Wagner as transfers AP, insists on complete innocence of the client. In particular, the lawyer did not exclude that can call in question authenticity of the e-mails filed by prosecutor's office.

The following listenings will take place no later than February 11, 2011, till this time of Nikolayenko will remain under arrest. The judge Patricia Gorens did not grant a protection request for Nikolayenko's release on the security, having specified that the defendant has two international passports and enough money to disappear (at arrest at the Russian about $4000 were found).

If Mega-D really integrates 0.5 million computers, it is at least one of the world's largest botnets, the head of laboratory of content filtering of Kaspersky Lab (KL) Andrey Nikishin considers. Earlier it was announced only one larger network — Kraken (integrated millions of machines). But proofs of its real existence did not appear, Nikishin notices. However, to prove Nikolayenko's participation in Mega-D it will be difficult, he considers: it is very easy for e-mail to forge the same. At FBI with its experience of investigation of hi-tech crimes it will turn out, the president of Internet and Right law firm Anton Sergo is sure. For example, it is possible to define authenticity of e-mails, having just requested information from the proceeding and entering servers.

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