Carnegie Mellon Student Pleads Guilty to Hacking
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 02/09/2017 09:34 AM
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A Carnegie Mellon student, Morgan Culbertson, 22, pleaded guilty to participating in the distribution of the Dendroid app which was sold on the Darkode cybercriminal marketplace.
Culbertson developed the malware which was a malicious piece of malware that was able to remotely control Google Android smartphones.
Culbertson's guilty plea could have landed him in jail for 16 months. The plea was for conspiracy to damage protected computers. While acknowledging the "highly invasive, highly dangerous" software that Culbertson developed and sold, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Kitchen described Culbertson as a "youthful" whiz kid "looking for a challenge."
Instead, Culbertson received three-years of probation and 300 hours of community service.
Culbertson was one of many individuals indicted by U.S. authorities in the take down in 2015 of the Darkode.com marketplace. Darkode was known for selling malicious software. The FBI and international authorities took down the website.
The Dendroid app allowed hackers to gain control of a smartphone and steal files, turn on the camera and track internet searches and texting all without the knowledge of the owners.
Source: SCMagazine
Culbertson developed the malware which was a malicious piece of malware that was able to remotely control Google Android smartphones. Culbertson's guilty plea could have landed him in jail for 16 months. The plea was for conspiracy to damage protected computers. While acknowledging the "highly invasive, highly dangerous" software that Culbertson developed and sold, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Kitchen described Culbertson as a "youthful" whiz kid "looking for a challenge."
Instead, Culbertson received three-years of probation and 300 hours of community service.
Culbertson was one of many individuals indicted by U.S. authorities in the take down in 2015 of the Darkode.com marketplace. Darkode was known for selling malicious software. The FBI and international authorities took down the website.
The Dendroid app allowed hackers to gain control of a smartphone and steal files, turn on the camera and track internet searches and texting all without the knowledge of the owners.
Source: SCMagazine
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