In 2003 the satellite TV market was pretty cutthroat, and retailers would do almost anything to have an edge on the competition. In the case of Web retailers Miami-based Rapid Satellite and Weaknees in LA, that anything included a denial of service hack attack that took their sites offline.
Now the FBI is looking for a Brit, Graham Walker, and a German, Axel Gembe, in connection with the attack. If convicted, they’re looking at 15 years in jail, the BBC reports. Two others, Jay Echouafni and Paul Ashley, have already been charged with conspiracy in the case. Ashley pleaded guilty and has served two years, while Echouafni is currently a fugitive.
It’s claimed that Walker ran a botnet of infected computers and bombarded the sites of the two retailers with fake data, and the machines had been hijacked with a virus, Agobot, created by Gembe – he’s already been prosecuted in Germany for the creation of Agobot and was put on probation.
The attacks took the sites offline for two weeks, and it cost of one of the retailers $400,000 to recover.
