Oleg Nikolaenko
Encyclopedia
Oleg Yegorovich Nikolaenko is a Russian national
who has been charged in a U.S. federal court
with violating the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
. Federal investigators believe his activities may have been responsible for as much as one third of the world's electronic spam
. Nikolaenko is being held without bond at a Waukesha County Jail, Wisconsin, USA (Inmate #1413937) by U.S. Marshals
while awaiting trial.
, Moscow Oblast
, Russia
, was identified as the "King of Spam" by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
. He is suspected of running the "Mega-D
" botnet
to create a "zombie network" of as many as 500,000 infected computers. Investigators stated that his operation was responsible for producing up to 10 billion unsolicited e-mails per day, accounting for about 32% of all spam
. The messages allegedly promoted counterfeit versions of Rolex
watches, herbal supplements and prescription drugs such as Viagra. In October 2008, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
moved to freeze the assets of individuals involved with the Mega-D botnet, though Nikolaenko's identity was not yet known at the time.
to selling counterfeit Rolex watches and began cooperating with investigators. Federal agents used grand jury
subpoena
s to trace financial payments of $459,000 from convicted New Zealand
spammer Lance Atkinson to Nikolaenko, who had been using the alias of "Docent". Google
provided the FBI with Nikolaenko's e-mail records. Investigators subpoenaed his travel records from the U.S. State Department, which indicated that he had visited New York City
, Los Angeles
, and Las Vegas over the course of two trips in 2009. However, the Constitution of Russia
specifically prohibits the extradition
of its citizens.
In November 2009, FireEye, a computer security
firm, was able to shut down servers in the United States under the control of the Mega-D botnet. Nikolaenko, who had been in Las Vegas, Nevada
to attend the 2009 SEMA
auto show
, was forced to return to Russia two days early to undo the damage to Mega-D's functionality. By the end of 2009, Nikolaenko was able to restore capacity to generate 17% of worldwide spam.
, where an undercover agent ordered Viagra from an alleged e-mail spam
and instead received herbal pills.
Nikolaenko was indicted on November 16 at the U.S. District Court of Eastern Wisconsin
and faces up to five years in prison. He was accused of deliberately falsifying the header information of commercial e-mails and sending over 2,500 spam e-mails per day, both in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
. He was extradited to Wisconsin and assigned a case #: 2:10-cr-00246-CNC-1 in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Nikolaenko pleaded not guilty and retained defense attorney Christopher Van Wagner, who stated: "We're prepared to present a rigorous defense." Wagner requested that Nikolaenko be released on bail as his wife and daughter were planning to travel from Moscow
to the United States to attend the trial. However, bail was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence. On December 21, 2010, Federal prosecutors turned over 4,600 of 6,000 pages of documents to Nikolaenko's attorney for pre-trial discovery
. Information was redacted for the protection of witnesses. The trial was scheduled to begin by February 11, 2011, but later was adjourned. Nikolaenko later fired Wagner and retained New York criminal defense attorney Arkady Bukh who stated that "the previous motions by Nikolaenko's lawyers had been ruled by the judge in favor of the prosecution".
The M86 Security
company stated that spam output from Nikolaenko's Mega-D botnet fell below 5% of the worldwide total by December 2010. Spam e-mail traffic dropped sharply worldwide during the 2010 holiday period while Nikolaenko was detained, though Paul Wood of computer security firm Symantec
attributed the downturn to the disruption of various other botnets, including Rustok
, Lethic
and Xarvester. According to information technology experts, Mega-D is no longer considered a very large network, though it may have been the largest designed specifically for spam.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
who has been charged in a U.S. federal court
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
with violating the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 , signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions...
. Federal investigators believe his activities may have been responsible for as much as one third of the world's electronic spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
. Nikolaenko is being held without bond at a Waukesha County Jail, Wisconsin, USA (Inmate #1413937) by U.S. Marshals
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
while awaiting trial.
Background
Oleg Nikolaenko, a resident of VidnoyeVidnoye
Vidnoye is a town and the administrative center of Leninsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated south of Moscow city limits. Population:...
, Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, was identified as the "King of Spam" by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. He is suspected of running the "Mega-D
Mega-D botnet
The Mega-D, also known by its alias of Ozdok, is a botnet that at its peak was responsible for sending between 30% and 35% of spam worldwide....
" botnet
Botnet
A botnet is a collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet. Termed "bots," they are generally used for malicious purposes. When a computer becomes compromised, it becomes a part of a botnet...
to create a "zombie network" of as many as 500,000 infected computers. Investigators stated that his operation was responsible for producing up to 10 billion unsolicited e-mails per day, accounting for about 32% of all spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
. The messages allegedly promoted counterfeit versions of Rolex
Rolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
watches, herbal supplements and prescription drugs such as Viagra. In October 2008, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
moved to freeze the assets of individuals involved with the Mega-D botnet, though Nikolaenko's identity was not yet known at the time.
Investigation
The FBI got a break in the case in August 2009, when Jody M. Smith pleaded guilty in MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
to selling counterfeit Rolex watches and began cooperating with investigators. Federal agents used grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s to trace financial payments of $459,000 from convicted New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
spammer Lance Atkinson to Nikolaenko, who had been using the alias of "Docent". Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
provided the FBI with Nikolaenko's e-mail records. Investigators subpoenaed his travel records from the U.S. State Department, which indicated that he had visited New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Las Vegas over the course of two trips in 2009. However, the Constitution of Russia
Constitution of Russia
The current Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication...
specifically prohibits the extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
of its citizens.
In November 2009, FireEye, a computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
firm, was able to shut down servers in the United States under the control of the Mega-D botnet. Nikolaenko, who had been in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
to attend the 2009 SEMA
SEMA
Specialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...
auto show
Auto show
An auto show, or motor show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is commonly attended by automobile manufacturers. Most auto shows occur once or twice a year...
, was forced to return to Russia two days early to undo the damage to Mega-D's functionality. By the end of 2009, Nikolaenko was able to restore capacity to generate 17% of worldwide spam.
Arrest and legal proceedings
Nikolaenko returned to Las Vegas to attend the 2010 SEMA Show and was apprehended by federal agents at the Bellagio Hotel on November 4. He was found with two passports and $4,000 cash. Nikolaenko was transported to face charges in Milwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, where an undercover agent ordered Viagra from an alleged e-mail spam
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
and instead received herbal pills.
Nikolaenko was indicted on November 16 at the U.S. District Court of Eastern Wisconsin
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin serves the residents of twenty-eight counties from its two courthouses...
and faces up to five years in prison. He was accused of deliberately falsifying the header information of commercial e-mails and sending over 2,500 spam e-mails per day, both in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 , signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions...
. He was extradited to Wisconsin and assigned a case #: 2:10-cr-00246-CNC-1 in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Nikolaenko pleaded not guilty and retained defense attorney Christopher Van Wagner, who stated: "We're prepared to present a rigorous defense." Wagner requested that Nikolaenko be released on bail as his wife and daughter were planning to travel from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to the United States to attend the trial. However, bail was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence. On December 21, 2010, Federal prosecutors turned over 4,600 of 6,000 pages of documents to Nikolaenko's attorney for pre-trial discovery
Discovery (law)
In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...
. Information was redacted for the protection of witnesses. The trial was scheduled to begin by February 11, 2011, but later was adjourned. Nikolaenko later fired Wagner and retained New York criminal defense attorney Arkady Bukh who stated that "the previous motions by Nikolaenko's lawyers had been ruled by the judge in favor of the prosecution".
The M86 Security
M86 Security
M86 Security is a privately-owned Internet threat protection company that specializes in Web and email security products and content filtering appliances...
company stated that spam output from Nikolaenko's Mega-D botnet fell below 5% of the worldwide total by December 2010. Spam e-mail traffic dropped sharply worldwide during the 2010 holiday period while Nikolaenko was detained, though Paul Wood of computer security firm Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
attributed the downturn to the disruption of various other botnets, including Rustok
Rustock botnet
The Rustock botnet was a botnet that operated from around 2006 until March 2011.It consisted of computers running Microsoft Windows, and was capable of sending up to 25,000 spam messages per hour from an infected PC. At the height of its activities, it sent an average of 192 spam messages per...
, Lethic
Lethic botnet
The Lethic Botnet is a botnet consisting of an estimated 210 000 - 310 000 individual machines which are mainly involved in pharmaceutical and replica spam. . At the peak of its existence the botnet was responsible for 8-10% of all the spam sent worldwide...
and Xarvester. According to information technology experts, Mega-D is no longer considered a very large network, though it may have been the largest designed specifically for spam.
External links
- Oleg Nikolaenko at The Smoking GunThe Smoking GunThe Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is damning, shocking, outrageous, or amazing, yet also somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources...
- Oleg Y. Nikolaenko at Federal Bureau of PrisonsFederal Bureau of PrisonsThe Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
- United States of America v. Oleg Y. Nikolaenko – U.S. District Court of Eastern WisconsinUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of WisconsinThe U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin serves the residents of twenty-eight counties from its two courthouses...
(November 3, 2010) - Indictment: United States of America v. Oleg Y. Nikolaenko – U.S. District Court of Eastern Wisconsin (November 16, 2010)