The FBI and Department of Justice have jointly announced that over 90 people around the world have been arrested in a gigantic global takedown of those responsible for the Blackshades RAT (Remote Acccess Tool) malware – also known as “creepware”. In addition to arresting the Blackshades creator Alex Yucel (“Yücel” in his native Sweden), Yücel’s employees, including his marketing person, were arrested, as were customers who had purchased Blackshades and then used it against their own victims. Yücel’s partner and Blackshade co-creator Michael Hogue was arrested in a sting known as “Operation Cardshop” in 2012; Hogue’s arrest lead to the arrest of Yücel.

It is known that over 500,000 Windows computers worldwide are infected with the Blackshades RAT (Remote Access Tool) malware creepware. This means that if you have a Windows computer, or run Windows on your Mac, you need to check to see whether your computer has been infected with this silent privacy and security killer. The surest way is to check for any of the following files anywhere on your hard drive: dos_sock.bss, nir_cmd.bss, pws_cdk.bss, pws_chro.bss, pws_ff.bss, pws_mail.bss, pws_mess.bss