Now, this is different. A computer cracker, Luis Mijangos of Santa Ana, CA has been arrested by the FBI for taking over more than 100 Windows PCs and used what he found on them to extort sexually explicit videos from women and teenage girls by threatening to release their personal data.
It started, from reports, like many other hacker attacks. He trolled for victims on P2P) peer-to-peer file-sharing and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks under the nickname “guicho” Mijangos is alleged to have sent out malware disguised as popular songs. Once downloaded, Mijangos took control of their computers and used them to spread the malware to their friends over IM (instant messaging). He also planted “keyloggers” on their PC so he could record their every keystroke as they went about their daily computer use.
So far, we’re not talking about anything that doesn’t happen tens of thousands of time a day. But, this is where the story takes a different twist. Mijangos didn’t just automatically use the infected computer to send out spam and malware or siphon down credit-card passwords and the like the way most botnet controllers would do. No, instead he went looking on his victim’s computers for sexually explicit or intimate images and videos of the women.