WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Monday announced charges against the distributors and users of a common malware used to infect more than half a million computers in 100 countries since 2010.
The indictments are part of a coordinated international crackdown on cybercrime, which has resulted in dozens of other arrests around the world, law enforcement officials said.
Among the five U.S. indictments announced Monday was one naming Alex Yucel as one of the creators of the Blackshades Remote Access Tool, or RAT. Yucel, who the government says was the “owner” of the Blackshades organization, was arrested in Moldova in November and is awaiting extradition to the United States, according to the indictment.
The malware costs just $40 on some sites and takes control of a victim’s computer and hijacks webcams to secretly record.
This cheap and easy-to-use tool is often sold on the Internet’s black market and has been involved in alleged “sextortion” cases in which hackers blackmail victims using photos obtained through webcams or found on their computers.
“Armed with $40 and a computer, an individual could easily get the Blackshades Remote Access Tool and become a perpetrator,” George Venizelos, FBI assistant director in charge in New York, said in a statement. “It required no sophisticated hacking experience or expensive equipment.”
Michael Hogue, one of the co-creators of Blackshades, was arrested in Arizona in 2012. He has since cooperated with law enforcement and pleaded guilty to charges related to Blackshades in January, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Since then, the government says, Hogue has been cooperating with law enforcement to bring the Blackshades operation down.
According to the Justice Department, the organization pulled in $350,000 between September 2010 and April 2014.
U.S. investigators worked with international law enforcement to take down the organization. More than 90 arrests have been made, along with more than 300 searches worldwide as part of the investigation involving 19 countries, according to a Justice statement.
While five U.S. indictments have been announced, Brown said, more are likely. “Internationally, law enforcement is saying we will coordinate to address the cybercrime threat,” he said.
