According to a press release published Mon yesteryear U.S. of A. Attorney’s Office, Colton Grubbs, who used online moniker 'KFC Watermelon,' was pleaded guilty for iii counts--unlawfully accessing computers inwards furtherance of a criminal act, money laundering, in addition to illegal removal of holding to preclude its lawful seizure.
First surfaced inwards Apr 2015, the LuminosityLink RAT (Remote Access Trojan), also known equally Luminosity, was a hacking tool that was sold for $40, marketing itself equally a legitimate tool for Windows administrators to "manage a large issue of computers concurrently."
However, inwards reality, LuminosityLink was designed to endure a dangerous, remote access trojan that amid other malicious features, allowed Grubbs' customers to:
- Record the keys that victims pressed on their keyboards
- Surveil victims using their computers' cameras in addition to microphones
- View in addition to download the computers' files
- Steal names in addition to passwords used to access websites
However, inwards a plea understanding signed a yr ago, Grubbs admitted that his malware would endure used yesteryear around customers to remotely access in addition to command computers without their victims' computers without the victims' noesis or consent.
Grubbs also admitted of offering assistance to his customers to role the LuminosityLink RAT through posts in addition to grouping chats on his ain luminosity.link website in addition to world cyberspace forum HackForums.net.
According to his final yr plea agreement, the LuminosityLink RAT was sold for $39.99 apiece to to a greater extent than than 6,000 individuals, who used it maliciously to attain unauthorized access to thousands of computers across 78 countries worldwide.
"Our modern social club is subject on computers, mobile devices, in addition to the role of the internet," said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., the States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. "People exactly accept to accept confidence inwards their mightiness to role these modern instruments to transact their business, privately communicate, in addition to securely hold their information."
"It is essential that nosotros vigorously prosecute those who erode that confidence in addition to illicitly attain access to reckoner systems in addition to the electronic information of others. Everyone benefits when this deceitful bear is discovered, investigated, in addition to prosecuted."According to the Justice of Department, Grubbs has been ordered to serve 85 percentage of his prison theater judgement nether federal law, in addition to upon release, he volition endure nether the supervision of the the States Probation Office for a term of 3 years.
Besides his judgement of incarceration, Grubbs has also been ordered to forfeit the money he made from his crimes, including 114 bitcoins (valued at over $725,000 today) which were seized yesteryear the FBI.
