it Was a Saturday and the director of the thesis turned on the computer that was used by his student, the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Granada. From there, he sought a simple computer program. He took time to compare the free version and the paid. Entered in your Paypal account to buy it, you downloaded it, and installed it. This program captures the keys that the user presses, makes screenshots and send it to whoever controls the program.

With that method, the teacher obtained the account password of Facebook of your student. When he agreed to the account of it, did it from your Apple computer and looked at himself in the search of Facebook. It was a way, perhaps, to know what she thought she of him. When the victim returned to use Facebook was surprised the search rare the name of his teacher, tells his lawyer, Cristina Pasquau.

When the victim returned to use Facebook was surprised the search rare the name of your professor

Then he looked at the browsing history of the computer of the university, and there he found all the traces of how he had installed the surveillance program on the computer. The professor had not deleted anything. For if it were a little Facebook distinguish shortcuts from Android or Windows mobile and Mac. Only the teacher handled a Mac in college.

All of this happened between the 27th and the 29th of June 2015. More than four years later, a few days ago, it has been known that the resolution of the case, which has been by agreement between the parties: the teacher admits the facts, has paid a penalty of 3,000 euros for civil liability and has received two years of prison that you will not comply, and two years without directing thesis.

The facts are a shows almost perfect of how to be a spy unfortunate: he left fingerprints all over it. It was a sloppy. But it also indicates that someone more careful you can do this well if you have easy access to the victim’s computer. Today, the program costs $ 40 and has a free version. Its use is in fact legal in specific cases. The first excuse of the professor was that you had installed the program to control the use of the printer, and confidential information that was on the hard disk. During the process, however, chose to admit to the facts and confess that what he had done for personal interest.

despite the complaint at the time, the university never changed the director of the thesis, which was finally presented in any other university in Barcelona in December 2018. “Before the imminence of having to present it without possibility of change of director, the student suffered from a depressive disorder anxious and took medical leave”, says Pasquau. All this is confirming because the professor has admitted, and the victim made a few screenshots. But the scientific police failed to analyze the hard drive because was damaged. During its preservation at some place of the University of Granada, something happened that hurt the hard drive.

One hundred

The case of granada is only one among hundreds every year. According to the data of Interior, the illegal access of a computer is multiplied by two between 2011 and 2018, from 789 to 1.561 cases. The variation in cases solved and arrested and investigated was however much less: of 114 cases solved in 2011, went to 162 in 2018, and persons detained or investigated actually fell in those years, from 52 to 41. “It is not a common attack if you look at the statistics of cybercrime, but there are cases of disclosure of secret of all types,” says attorney David Maeztu, of the law firm, 451.Legal.

programs such as the one used in this case, the type of keylogger, is just one type of tool of espionage. There are more. In November, the Spanish Police collaborated in an operation coordinated by Europol against a website that was selling a service called Imminent Monitor. Imminent Monitor is a RAT (Remote Access Trojan). Serves to monitor a computer or mobile remote.

As the keylogger, the RAT will also allow you to spy on. But a RAT does not need to have physical access to the target device (you can reach it through a link, files, apps, malicious) and allows you to control the device in remote (connect microphone, camera, screen captures), while a keylogger must be installed and sends information in a timely manner, without the possibility of more.

“Anyone with an inclination to be detrimental to eavesdrop or steal could use it for about 22 euros”

“Imminent Monitor was considered dangerous by its features, ease of use and low cost. Anyone with an inclination to be detrimental to spy on victims or steal personal data could use it for about 22 euros”, says the press release from Europol. The authorities estimate that the malware was purchased by around 14,500 people in 124 countries. In the operation detained 13 of its users more prolific.

The main use of Imminent Monitor was probably to cybercrime, according to sources from the Spanish police. But the type of material found by the security forces included “private photos, personal details and videos,” according to Europol. The personal dedication required for the control of a RAT makes you think that your usage is more specific: “The attacker controls each infected device manually. This takes time and dedication, which makes the infections of the RAT are in comparison much lower than with other malware such as Zeus, FakeSpy, Retadup,” says Veronica Valeros, a researcher at the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Valeros has spent years studying the RAT. Does not believe that its use is much more widespread: “The years 2010 to 2014 or 2015 are the years most assets on the basis of my research. Perhaps they are now being given a little more attention and that is why it is perceived that this increase”, he explains.

As with the keylogger, the RAT also have a legitimate use: “You employ a lot in order to provide control and remote assistance devices. But there are many whose code has leaked, and this makes it so that anyone can grab the code, change it, and turn it into your own RAT”, he explains.

Also as keyloggers, a RAT does not require professional hackers: “The RAT are easy to operate and offer a range of functionalities is very extensive,” adds Valeros.

The police action has probably to do with the ease of distribution of the malware Imminent Monitor: “Many of these tools not only exploits those who are designing it. Is malware to rent or sell, that is not so complicated to use,” says Eusebio Nieva, technical director Check Point.

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