A man suspected of being the hacker behind the Black Hole malware virus has been arrested in Russia. The individual, known by the alias Paunch, is believed to have created the Blackhole and Cool exploit kits which were sold to infect computers with malware. While Europol confirmed a cybercriminal was arrested, details have not been provided by Russian authorities. Paunch's arrest may not eliminate the threat as other hackers continue operating similar malware kits.

1. Suspected ‘Black Hole’ Hacker Arrested
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A man suspected of being the hacker behind the Black Hole malware
virus has been arrested in Russia.
The individual, who was being pursued by Europol, is believed to be
the man using the alias Paunch, who created the Blackhole and
Cool exploit kits. These were sold to cyber criminals in order to
infest web users with malware.

2. A Europol spokesperson said: "Europol and the European Cybercrime
Centre has been informed that a high-level suspected cyber criminal
has been arrested.
"We can only refer you to the Russian authorities, they are the ones
who should speak about this topic."

3. However, as yet there has been no confirmation from Russia about the
details.
The Black Hole was invented in 2010 and was particularly prominent in
2012 and 2013, copying malicious software to legitimate sites, which
then found its way into users' computers. It also created links in spam
emails that linked to sites created specifically to infect PCs.

4. As a result, computers could be infected by viruses like data-stealing
trojans and key loggers that track what is being typed.
Fraser Howard, a researcher at the anti-virus company Sophos, told
the BBC that these kits have since been usurped by others from
different hackers, like Sweet Orange and Neutrino. The kits made by
Paunch dropped from causing 28 per cent of infections dealt with by
Sophos in August 2012 to only four per cent in the same month this
year.

5. What this means for companies concerned about their data protection
is that the arrest of Paunch – if indeed the authorities have got the right
man – does not mean the end of the threat by any means. There will
still be many other hackers out there, so backing up data remotely from
the infrastructure that may come under cyber attack remains an
important step firms should take.
Instances of large-scale attacks by hackers have been going on for
many years, with previous examples including the Melissa Virus, which
was spread through emails in 1999 and the early 2000s.

6. Its creator, David Smith, was sentenced to 20 months in jail following
his conviction in 2002.
Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/suspected-
black-hole-hacker-arrested/". Suspected ‘Black Hole’ Hacker Arrested.
October 9, 2013. Storetec.

7. Its creator, David Smith, was sentenced to 20 months in jail following
his conviction in 2002.
Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/suspected-
black-hole-hacker-arrested/". Suspected ‘Black Hole’ Hacker Arrested.
October 9, 2013. Storetec.