The programmer who wrote ZeuS

But security experts believe there is a good chance he will soon emerge with even more powerful ways to steal, a pattern of behavior seen after previous retirements in 2007 and 2008.

ZeuS' anonymous programmer, who lives in Russia and seems to like nice cars and powerful trucks, first introduced ZeuS in 2007 as spyware that would hide in users' computers and log keystrokes to steal passwords, said Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence at the security firm SecureWorks.

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