More than 100 people nabbed in global hacker crackdown

Washington (CNN) -- The FBI and police in several countries have arrested more than 100 people and conducted hundreds of searches in recent days in a global crackdown on hackers linked to the malicious software called Blackshades, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

The years-long investigation is targeting one of the most popular tools used by cybercriminals to hijack computers around the world.

The malware sells for as little as $40. It can be used to hijack computers remotely and turn on webcams, access hard drives and capture keystrokes to steal passwords without the victim's knowledge.

Criminals have used it for everything from extortion to bank fraud, the FBI says.

More than 100 people nabbed in global hacker crackdown

What we learn here is 100+ people have been using Blackshades. A malware that is apparently purchasable for $40-50.

Blackshades can apparently:
1. Log key strokes
2. Turn on web cams
3. among other things

Color me skeptical...
It sounds like something that was potentially built by a nefarious government agency, then sold for profit. I'm going to go so far as to suggest the "hackers" using the Blackshades program may have been being monitored by one or more of the three-letter agencies.

That this "years-long" tracking down was easy, the hard part was the FBI convincing the foreign governments to cooperate.

Given our own governments (and their agencies) desire to create "events" to publicly demonstrate they are capable and effective at their jobs (re: FBI creating terror plots to foil), it seems that anything that comes out regarding the FBI's "good deeds" should be immediately questioned.

It could very well be, beyond a 3-letter building Blackshades, add to it a simple use of metadata collected by the NSA then given to the FBI to build a case backwards.

Denmark is rotting from the inside out. Again, color me skeptical.

a reply to: WCmutant

So I'm thinkin' - 100 units @ $40 each = $4,000 gross revenue.

Where's the profit?

If I was a criminal I'd make damm sure I was raking in $billion$ with a product like this.

You must be right - this was a sting operation. Or else the FBI is after the wrong guys for the wrong reasons.




F&S&

Maybe this is something to do with the arrests of Chinese citizens in the US. I didn't get the full story yet.

Why would one pay for that, when they could get kali linux for free?

a reply to: WCmutant

The malware sells for as little as $40. It can be used to hijack computers remotely and turn on webcams, access hard drives and capture keystrokes to steal passwords without the victim's knowledge.

Uh huh... so it's basically RAT software, of which there are thousands of variants. And as far as I'm aware it's not illegal to make or sell RAT software, some people actually have legit uses for it, same way as there are legit uses for key loggers (eg monitoring children). There is nothing inherently illegal about key loggers or RAT software, the illegal part is when you use it to conduct illegal activities. I don't really have any sympathy for the people who make this software, but it is there right to make and sell this software if they wish to. I have a feeling these 100 people will be released without being charged.

a reply to: WCmutant

Its avalible to download from TPB (Blackshades 5.5.1 [mindcrasher]).

Comments suggest its Malware. "Thx for the program but after a closer look I find that its likely a trojan..." BlackShades Co-Creator Arrested! Last week, it was announced that one of the creators of BlackShades NET Remote Access Trojan was arrested along with 23...dated july 04 2012, not sure if this is the same thing but be careful folks!"

Which is not to say i'm in favour of using it for criminal activities, just curious as to its existence and what it does?

It sounds like something that was potentially built by a nefarious government agency, then sold for profit.

There are 10's of 1000's of available RATS that can do what this one can, why would you think it was made by the government.

Sounds like the kind of malware that the NSA and friends use. In my opinion this bust was a small drip in the barrel compared to all the other malware producers out there. Fraud and theft of sensitive information is a major probem today.

The real profit in this kind of software in in the credit card and bank account information and other sensitive information this kind of malware enables.

It does seem like the average person is happy and calling for the hackers heads on a platter which leads me to believe this bust was mostly a PR move.

originally posted by: jrod
It does seem like the average person is happy and calling for the hackers heads on a platter which leads me to believe this bust was mostly a PR move.

It's totally a PR move. It's been in the CNN news loop non-stop this morning.

a reply to: WCmutant

Global crackdown?

Does this mean they have been going round in other people sovereign country arresting people for crimes committed while not on US soil?

a reply to: WCmutant

This is more than likely a rebuild of an old old old program called Netbus. The NSA aren't the only people who can control, monitor, and crash your computer remotely.

originally posted by: crazyewok

Global crackdown?

Does this mean they have been going round in other people sovereign country arresting people for crimes committed while not on US soil?

Global crackdown, I needed a good laugh.

They call it a global crackdown when in reality they are catching less than 1% of those who are using this software maliciously. PR move for sure.

I do not like the precedent this sets, now if they deem software malware then they have the go ahead to send the SWAT team in after a 'hacker'

Meanwhile the average unaware person cheers the arrests being made thinking it will make the internet a safer place.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: WCmutant

Its avalible to download from TPB (Blackshades 5.5.1 [mindcrasher]).

Comments suggest its Malware. "Thx for the program but after a closer look I find that its likely a trojan..." BlackShades Co-Creator Arrested! Last week, it was announced that one of the creators of BlackShades NET Remote Access Trojan was arrested along with 23...dated july 04 2012, not sure if this is the same thing but be careful folks!"

Which is not to say i'm in favour of using it for criminal activities, just curious as to its existence and what it does?

Of course it is recognizing it as a trojan, that's what it is lol. Created to sneak onto someone pc then release a hidden and malicious attack, like the Trojan Horse of Troy.

Granted, what better way to find people using malicious software, than by putting that SAME malicious software in theirs.

Gooberment was just looking for new recruits.

Turning black hats into white hats is kind of their thing.

Back in the very early 2000's there were a few programs like this. One was called Sub7. It was widely distributed and could do pretty much anything you can do while sitting in front of the computer; open the cd rom, copy files, keylogger, open webpages etc. It was the original trojan and the virus file was a whopping 1mb, which was huge at the time. I would be interested to see the specs and see how it has evolved over the past 14 years.