US Courts Jailed Malware Creator for Almost 5 Years

Securityweek.com reported on 23rd June, 2015 stating that a 25 year old Swedish man, namely Alex Yucel, who developed the malware tool which tainted half a million systems globally was recently imprisoned for 57 months in New York for hacking computers.

Prosecutors said that Yucel owned an organization known as "Blackshades' which sold an advanced and maligned type of malware called RAT (Remote Access Tool) to several thousands of people in over 100 countries.

The accused caught in Moldova in November 2013 was later deported to the US. Pleading initially not guilty for the five counts levied against him, he finally in February 2015 confessed to the hacking charges.

He initially faced a maximum of seventeen years in jail but he his confession reduced it to less than 5 years.

Almost 100 individuals were arrested in May 2014 due to joint raids conducted by US and European Police forces that targeted authors, sellers and users of the RAT in 16 countries.

Pcworld.com published a report on 23rd June, 2015 stating that Yucel was charged of organizing an underground business which sold the program on a website for $40 per copy. Sales of Blackshades generated more than $350,000 in revenue between September 2010 and April 2014.

Blackshades was installed into computers of victims via malicious links distributed through spam or by other hackers hired to install it with software vulnerabilities.

Cassidy Wolf, who was crowned beauty Miss Teen of California, USA in 2013, was one of the victims of Blackshades. She received an anonymous email from a sender claiming to have her nude photos taken from the webcam of her laptop.

Nypost.com published news on 23rd June, 2015 stating that before Yucel was delivered the verdict, he said that he would like to offer his most heartfelt apologies and deeply regret for starting this whole incident.

Yucel was also ordered to forfeit $200,000 along with all his computer equipment used in his crimes.

CBS New York published news on 23rd June, 2015 quoting Preet Bharara, Attorney of US as saying "This malware victimized thousands of individuals and invaded their lives all over the world but computer hacking days of Yucel are now over."

» SPAMfighter News - 7/1/2015