Hackers move to create next Blackhole after 'Paunch' arrest

"Nature abhors a vacuum," Cluely noted. "Other online criminals are waiting to take [the] place" of Blackhole.

Rumors of the arrest of the hacker known as "Paunch" by Russian authorities first began doing the rounds yesterday after a tweet about it by a Dutch security researcher.

Russian law enforcement authorities have yet to release a statement on the arrest, but Troels Oerting, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Center, told Techweek Europe that "I know it is true, we got some information, but I cannot say anymore."

The arrest is a big breakthrough for law enforcement and the security community in general.

Since 2010 or earlier, the Blackhole exploit kit has been widely used to hack into several Web browsers and into client software like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash and several MicrosoftMicrosoft Windows-based applications. Alles zu Microsoft auf CIO.de