An estimated 38,000 users is still infected with the Flashback Trojan, the first malware targeting Mac users that didn’t have to get their permission to be downloaded, which resulted in a 600K strong botnet of computers set on redirecting Google search results and gaming Google’s ad networks to earn revenue for its creator(s).
That was almost exactly a year ago, and now well-known security reporter Brian Krebs thinks he may just have tracked down the actual developer of the malware.
He first discovered a series of private messages exchanged by one of the top members of an online forum focused on black hat SEO and a user named “Mavook” who claimed to be the creator of Flashback botnet for Macs.
By digging through tidbits of online information about this user and tying him to a private domain, a music sales site, several email addresses and a Skype account he unearthed the name of a IT firm in Saransk (Mordovia Outsourcing Company) and the name of its founder – a 30-year-old named Maxim Dmitrievich Selihanovich – who he believes to be the Flashback author.