A 21-year-old Kentucky Man sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for creating and selling the hacking tool LuminosityLink RAT that can be used the customers to gain access to the victim’s machine without user interaction.
21-year-old man Colton Grubbs, the developer of the tool pleads guilty last July for conspiracy to illegal access to computers, money laundering and illegal removal of property.
LuminosityLink RAT
Grubbs sold the RAT for $40, that contains malicious functions such as recording keystrokes, capturing cameras and microphones, access to computer files and to steal the website passwords.
“In his plea agreement, Grubbs admitted to selling this software for $39.99 apiece to more than 6,000 customers. These customers and their victims were located throughout the United States and around the world”, reads DoJ press release.
Palo Alto spotted the first sample in mid of April 2015, they observed over 43,000 unique LuminosityLink RAT samples through various methods.
“Our modern society is dependent on computers, mobile devices, and the use of the internet, people simply have to have confidence in their ability to use these modern instruments to transact their business, privately communicate, and securely maintain their information,” said Robert M. Duncan.
Grubbs need to serve 85 percent of his sentence in prison and ordered to pay the money he earned from crimes as fine, including 114 bitcoin that worth more than $725,000.
“The sentence announced today would not have been possible without the cooperation of our partners in the private sector and international law enforcement, specifically the Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 and the United Kingdom’s Southwest Regional Cyber Crime Unit,” said Michael A. Christman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI.
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