Aleksandr Andreevich Panin and Hamza Bendelladj, masterminds behind the development and distribution of the infamous "SpyEye" botnet, have been sentenced to a combined total of 24 years and 6 months in prison.

The two were accused of developing and distributing SpyEye malware that is said to have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to the financial sector, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Once infected, the malware connects to the command-and-control servers controlled by attackers and steals the victim's personal and financial information, like online banking credentials and credit card information using keyloggers and Web injection.

Panin bought the source code and rights to sell Zeus from Evginy Bogachev, who is on the FBI's ten most wanted list. Panin incorporated Zeus code into his own SpyEye.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has described SpyEye as a "preeminent malware banking Trojan," which was used to infect over 50 million computers worldwide from 2010 to 2012, causing nearly $1 Billion in financial losses to individuals and financial institutions globally.

Source: The Hacker News