The malware allows hackers to steal personal information, intercept keystrokes and hijack webcams to make secret recordings of their users. BlackShades also can be used to encrypt and lock a computer’s data files, blocking the rightful owners from regaining access unless they pay a ransom.
French officials said last week’s raids happened after the FBI arrested two BlackShades developers and distributed a list of their international customers who purchased the malware.
Coordination agencies Europol and Eurojust, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said Monday that police in 13 European countries — Austria, Belgium, Britain, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands and Switzerland — as well as in the United States, Canada and Chile raided 359 properties and seized cash, firearms, drugs and more than 1,000 data storage devices.
In a BlackShades-related related investigation before the latest global arrests, Dutch police earlier this year arrested a 18-year-old man for using the malware to take pictures of women and girls using about 2,000 computers.
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