Australian Teenager Sold Remote-Access Spyware To 14,500 People, Earned $300,000

"Jacob Wayne John Keen, now 24, was 15 years old and living in his mother's rental when he allegedly created a sophisticated spyware tool known as a remote access trojan that allowed users to remotely take control of their victims' computers," reports the Guardian. Once installed it could be used to steal victims' personal information, spy on them via webcams and microphones and track what they typed into emails or documents. Keen allegedly sold the tool for $35 on a hacking forum, making between $300,000 and $400,000 by selling it to more than 14,500 people in 128 countries.... Keen was slapped with six charges earlier in July, and is due to appear at Brisbane's magistrates court next month. His mother, 42, has also been charged with allegedly dealing in the proceeds of crime. A global investigation involving more than a dozen law enforcement agencies across Europe led to 85 search warrants being executed around the world, with 434 devices seized and 13 people arrested for using the malware for "alleged criminality". Among the tool's 14,500 users were a "statistically high" proportion of domestic violence perpetrators (and at least one child sex offender), according to the Australian federal police, who believe there were ultimately "tens of thousands" of victims globally. Slashdot reader Bruce66423 suggests an appropriate punishment would be sentencing Keen to work for spy agencies.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.