Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf became a victim to an extortionist who uses the new hacking technology called “Blackshades” also known as “Creepware,” a malware that can remotely hijack computers.
This quickly escalated into one of the biggest global cybercrime crackdown by authorities in 19 countries, with over 90 people already arrested.
The malwares costs only $40 and it can be used to penetrate computers remotely controlling the webcams, drives, access hard drives, steal passwords etc without the knowledge of the victim.
It has become one of the biggest remote administration tools (RAT) used by criminals for bank fraud, extortion, theft and invasion of privacy.
One of its most prominent victims is Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf.
IN March 2013 she received an e-mail message from an anonymous sender containing nude photos of her that were taken in her bedroom through her laptop. The sender asked her to do obscene things; otherwise the nude photos would be uploaded online. Wold said, she experienced three months of torture complied with the extortion.
What the sender demanded where better-quality nude photos and videos of her, including a sex show through Skype that lasted for five minutes. She said, the experience was traumatizing, because the room is supposed to be the most private, intimate and safest place for people. Now, she has a new laptop and she uses a sticker to cover the webcam.
The suspect was Jared Abrahams, a 20-year-old computer science student who used to be Wolf’s classmate. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison in March. He has been watching Wolf through her laptop webcam for a year. He has also controlled up to 150 computers in areas including California, Maryland, Russia, Ireland and more.
Other significant people who were apprehended included the co-creator of Blackshades, the Swedish hacker Alex Yucel, who was arrested in Moldova.
