Gozi Creator Released From Prison

The mastermind behind computer malware Gozi was released from a US prison after serving about three years but must pay $6.9 million to bank customers who were victims of the fraud, reports Reuters.

Russian national Nikita Kuzmin was apprehended when he came to the US in 2010 and had pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal signed with US prosecutors. Another Gozi code-writer was also arrested in Latvia.

Kuzmin was recommended a sentence of 84 months by a US probation office in 2011, but allowed to go free by a Manhattan court for undisclosed reasons after serving 37 months behind bars.

Gozi malware, which came disguised as a .pdf file, had allowed cybercriminals to steal "tens of millions of dollars" from bank accounts. Not only had Kuzmin created and used Gozi, but he also rented it out to other criminals, prosecutors told Reuters.

For more on this story, see Reuters.