Spyware creator arrested for allegedly creeping on thousands for 13 years
The culprit behind the creepy spyware Fruitfly was nabbed finally -- after 13 years.
A 28-year-old Ohio man was accused Wednesday of running the malware attack on thousands of computers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Phillip Durachinsky was indicted on 16 counts for wiretapping, identity theft, producing child pornography, and other computer fraud violations.
Fruitfly -- as the malware was named -- was installed on thousands of computers from 2003 through January 2017. Durachinsky had access to personal computers along with devices at companies, schools, a police department, and a subsidiary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Yes, he allegedly was spying on the government, according to the DOJ.
The malware gave him access to data and allowed him to upload files, download and take screenshots, track keystrokes, and turn on the camera and microphone -- and record it all.
When Mashable reported about the spyware back in July, Synack chief security researcher Patrick Wardle said, "[A] hacker built this to spy on users for probably perverse reasons."
It gets worse. According to the DOJ, Durachinsky allegedly watched and listened to people who were infected. He's also said to have been alerted by the malware if words associated with porn were typed on an infected device.
Creepy.
Topics Cybersecurity
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
