Swedish man sentenced for powerful Blackshades malware
The creator of a tool that was used to steal data from a half-million computers will go to prison for close to five years, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Alex Yucel, 25, of Sweden, pleaded guilty in February in a New York federal court to one count of distributing malicious software. He was sentenced to four and three-quarter years in prison and must forfeit $200,000, according to a news release.
Yucel was accused of creating and managing the sale of Blackshades, a remote access tool that was widely used by the criminal underground. Blackshades was used to steal files, logins and passwords for online accounts and sometimes to encrypt the files on a computer in order to demand a ransom.
