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Man Charged With Extortion Remotely Hacked Into Computers for Homemade Porn

by Amar Toor on June 23, 2010 at 04:00 PM

Luis Mijangos BustedHackers are, by definition, a strange breed. But few are quite as disturbing as 31-year-old Luis Mijangos, who has been charged with extorting sexually explicit images and videos from a women he targeted with malware. According to federal prosecutors, Mijangos scoured peer-to-peer networks for his targets, to whom he sent malicious software disguised as MP3s. Once opened, the file would infect his victim's computer, as well as those of her friends and family, via automated instant messages. Upon gaining access to the woman's computer, Mijangos would troll around for racy photos or videos of young women or girls.

According to the AP, he sometimes hacked into e-mail accounts as well, and, posing as his target's boyfriend, would ask the unsuspecting woman to produce a homemade porno for his viewing pleasure. Occasionally, Mijangos even gained control over a victim's webcam by remotely turning it on and off at will, recording some women in compromising situations. Once he obtained the embarrassing material, he often threatened to publicly release it unless the woman provided him with more explicit footage. Mijangos, in his defense, admitted to hacking into the computers, but told FBI officials he only did so at the request of husbands or boyfriends, who wanted to find out if their significant others were cheating.

Thom Mzorek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, says that, while hacking extortion cases are rare, Mijangos's case is particularly unique, since it "doesn't involve demands for money but for [...] sexually explicit videos." And, if you think about it, that makes the story even more chilling. The hacker's preliminary hearing is set for July 13th, and he has since been released on a $10,000 bond. Fortunately for all of us, though, federal authorities have ensured the public he won't be anywhere near a computer. [From: CBS/AP]

Tags: creepy, cybercrime, extortion, fbi, hack, Luis Mijangos, LuisMijangos, p2p, pervert, pornography, security, top

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