FBI Shut Down Botnets; Arrested Participants

The FBI said that the second phase of its operation Bot Roast resulted in the shutdown of botnets and the indictment or conviction of eight men.

The operation, announced last June, is designed to track down botnet participants and put them in jail. According to the FBI, its investigations have uncovered "more than $20 million in economic loss and more than one million victim computers."

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said, "Botnets are the weapon of choice of cyber criminals. They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third party computers as vehicles for their crimes. In Bot Roast II, we see the diverse and complex nature of crimes that are being committed through the use of botnets. Despite this enormous challenge, we will continue to be aggressive in finding those responsible for attempting to exploit unknowing Internet users."

Ryan Brett Goldstein of Ambler, Pennsylvania; Robert Matthew Bentley of Panama City, Florida; John Schiefer of Los Angeles; and Gregory King of Fairfield, California are each still facing charges in their individual court cases.

Adam Sweaney of Tacoma, Washington; Azizbek Takhirovich Mamadjanov of Florida; Jason Michael Downey of Dry Ridge, Kentucky; and Alexander Dmitriyevich Paskalov have all been convicted and sentenced. The men received varying sentences of up to three and a half years in prison.

The FBI's investigation is ongoing. The bureau urges victims of online crime to file a complaint online through the Internet Crime Complaint Center.