Student Hacker Faces 10 Years in Prison For Spyware That Hit 16,000 Computers

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Student Hacker Faces 10 Years in Prison For Spyware That Hit 16,000 Computers
 

A 21-year-old from Virginia plead guilty on Friday to writing and selling custom spyware designed to monitor a victim’s keystrokes.

Zachary Shames, from Great Falls, Virginia, wrote a keylogger, malware designed to record every keystroke on a computer, and sold it to more than 3,000 people who infected more than 16,000 victims with it, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Shames, who appears to be a student at James Madison University, developed the first version of the spyware while he was still a high school student in 2013, “and continued to modify and market the illegal product from his college dorm room,” according to the feds.

There’s very little other information about the case, as the indictment or criminal complaint are not posted online, likely still under seal, according to the court’s clerk office. The only relevant public document is the one posted below, which says Shames aided and abetted computer intrusions by marketing and selling “certain malicious keylogger software, knowing that the software was going to [...] intentionally cause damage without authorization.”

While the feds only vaguely referred to it as “some malicious keylogger software,” it appears the spyware was actually called “Limitless Keylogger Pro,” according to evidence found by a a security researcher who asked to remain anonymous.

A user named “Mephobia” advertised it on Hack Forums, a popular hacking messaging board, on March 14, 2013, asking for a $35 “lifetime” subscription, asking for payments via PayPal and bitcoin.

 

[NeophobiA 1,503]

Ouch..