Leo Kuvayev
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[edit] Introduction
Leonid Aleksandorowitsch Kuvayev was born on 13 May 1972. He is the older brother of three younger sisters. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he had a special interest in Artificial Intelligence.
From his Spamhaus record:
Russian/American spammer, a spin-off or occasional partner with Alan Ralsky, Igabromiv, Lindsay and also the P/A/Y gang.
Does "OEM CD" pirated software spam, child and animal porn spam, porn payment collection, pharma/pills, phishing, and others. Does his own DNS, possibly does DNS for other spammers. Buys bulletproof hosting wherever he can get it. Noted for enormous numbers of domains (bogus registration info, of course), often rotating every three hours in the spam to avoid URIBL filters. Mails via proxies using the usual spamwares, sometimes from his own (leased) servers. Noted for having "fresh" peas, meaning he is very close to the botnet masters collecting new, unlisted, zombie IPs. Was part of Sun Network spamhaus on MCI, gets BP hosting in Brazil, China, Russia, etc.
Some of his programs include:
- BadCow
- TaiwanMedia
- Pharmacy Express
- Your Online Pharmacy
Spamhaus suggests he could be the "Pharmamaster" spammer who DDoS'd the Blue Security company.
His Wikipedia entry links him with the Storm Botnet.
[edit] Criminal Record
On May 11, 2005, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly filed a lawsuit against Leo Kuvayev and six accomplices, accusing them of sending millions of spam e-mails to peddle counterfeit drugs, pirated software, fake watches, and pornography. Kuvayev, a 38-year-old native of Russia who uses the nickname BadCow, is one of the world's top three spammers, according to anti-spam group Spamhaus. State officials allege that Kuvayev and his associates used a number of web-hosting services from the U.S. and around the world to launch attacks. Kuvayev was charged with violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which requires that unsolicited commercial e-mail be accurate and honest.
Massachusetts was able to go after Kuvayev because he listed a Massachusetts address on his driver's license and conducted business using a Boston Post Office box. On Oct. 11, 2005, after none of the defendants appeared to answer the charges, a Superior Court judge issued a default judgment against them. The judge found the spammers in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws and ordered a permanent shutdown of dozens of illegal Web sites. Kuvayev and his co-defendants were ordered to pay $37 million in civil penalties for sending nearly 150,000 illegal e-mails.
In August 2010, an anonymous blogger alleged that this Leo Kuvayev is the same Leonid Aleksandorovich Kuvayev (Леонида Александровича Куваева) jailed in Moscow on 50 counts of raping children from an orphanage. Independent reporter Brian Krebs, formerly a technology columnist for the Washington Post, confirmed numerous details.
Sources in the United States and Russia said that Kuvayev, who holds dual Russian-American citizenship, was alleged to have molested more than 50 young girls he had lured away from one or more local orphanages. He was brought in for questioning after one of the girls reported the incident to Russian police, who reportedly found videotaped evidence of the incidents. Brandon A. Montgomery, a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, confirmed that Kuvayev was indicted on Aug. 3, 2009, and arrested on Sept. 15 in Moscow for child molestation charges.
[edit] Identified Web Site Operations
[edit] Sponsoring Registrars
Leo Kuvayev's operation selects registrars who are slow to act on complaints. Typical choices are in the People's Republic of China
- Beijing Innovative Linkage Technology
- Xin Net
Though it has proven difficult to get registrars to revoke domains, the China Internet Society is active in identifying IP ranges used by Kuvayev, and blackholing them on request.
