Spain arrests man believed behind world’s worst cyberattack
South Korean police investigate possible cyberattack after four TV networks and large bank suffer server outages.
Spanish police said Sunday that they've arrested the person they think is responsible for what's been described as the largest cyberattack in history, reported CNN.
The 35-year-old Dutch man was taken in on Thursday just north of Barcelona, where he operated out of a bunker when he wasn't driving around in his handy cyber-attacking van, according to a ministry statement cited by The Associated Press.
The vehicle served as a "mobile computing office, equipped with various antennas to scan frequencies,” said the interior ministry, a discovery that may point to what was behind the massive cyberattack that slowed Internet service around the world last month, according to AP.
The denial-of-service onslaught also overwhelmed the European anti-spam agency "The Spamhaus Project," said CNN.
The man, identified by police only by the initials SK, told authorities he was a diplomat with the “Telecommunications and Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Cyberbunker," according to AP.
He was arrested on a European warrant initiated by the Netherlands, said CNN, where he will probably be extradited for the trial, reported AP.
The article you just read is free because dedicated readers and listeners like you chose to support our nonprofit newsroom. Our team works tirelessly to ensure you hear the latest in international, human-centered reporting every weekday. But our work would not be possible without you. We need your help.
Make a gift today to help us reach our $25,000 goal and keep The World going strong. Every gift will get us one step closer.