Not that they knew him personally, but Taylor Huddleston, a 27-year-old from Hot Springs, Arkansas, was for a time very popular among the world’s cyber criminals, thanks to a malicious piece of software he created called NanoCore RAT.

That malware allowed hackers to steal sensitive information from victims’ computers, including account numbers and passwords, and even allowed them to secretly activate the webcams of infected computers to spy on unsuspecting victims.

“Basically, the malicious software compromises victim computers and steals information,” said a special agent from the FBI’s Washington Field Office who investigated the case. “The NanoCore RAT has the ability to control a victim’s computer.”

This type of malware—a Remote Access Trojan (RAT)—is all the more insidious because in most cases victims have no idea their computers have been compromised. According to court documents, NanoCore RAT was used to infect and attempt to infect more than 100,000 computers.

RATs are not only a threat to individual users but to commercial enterprises as well. And if hackers decide to target U.S. infrastructure using this malware, the agent said, “there is a potential for national security implications.”

Huddleston had the skills to develop malicious software. “There are many cyber criminals out in the world,” the agent said. “Many are not sophisticated in terms of developing a new malware. Instead, they would rather purchase malware to carry out their crimes.”

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