Russia-backed student hacker jailed for £700k porn blackmail scheme
Teenager used virus-laden online adverts to demand ransoms which he spent at casinos and luxury hotels
A STUDENT who made hundreds of thousands of pounds blackmailing users of porn sites around the world has been jailed for six and a half years in the UK’S most serious cyber crime case.
Zain Qaiser, who operated out of his bedroom at his parents’ home in Barking, east London, worked with a Russian crime group to infect millions of computers with viruses that locked them out of their machines.
He then claimed to be a member of the local law enforcement agency and demanded a payment of more than £750 in order to unfreeze their screens.
The former computer science student committed most of his crimes when he was a teenager, but the complexity of the case meant it took more than four years to bring him to justice.
Qaiser, now 24, is estimated to have made more than £700,000 between 2012 and 2014, spending the proceeds on expensive watches, luxury hotel stays and regular trips to casinos.
The National Crime Agency, which investigated Qaiser’s activities, said it was impossible to know how many victims he had successfully targeted, but described the case as the most serious cyber crime investigation it had ever undertaken.
Using the online name K! NG, he posed as a legitimate businessman to buy large amounts of advertising space on pornographic websites.
But when users clicked on the adverts their computers were exposed to a highly sophisticated virus known as Angler software.
The infected computers then displayed a message which purported to be from the local law enforcement agency, such as the FBI in the United States. It warned the user that they had committed an offence, and locked them out of their computers unless they paid $1,000 (£767). The victims spanned at least 20 countries and the crime group for which Qaiser was working are thought to have generated millions of pounds in ransoms.
The money was paid through an online currency which could then be loaded on to credit cards. It was then withdrawn in cash abroad by others in the network and redirected through online currency services.
While some of the advertising companies Qaiser was buying space from turned a blind eye to his activities, ones who challenged him were targeted with cyber attacks including threats that they would be bombarded with indecent images of children.
Qaiser had initially acted alone but later contacted the Russian crime syndicate offering his services as an English speaker and expert in the online advertising industry.
Sentencing him to six and a half years, Judge Timothy Lamb QC said: “The harm caused by your offending was extensive – so extensive that there does not appear to be a reported case involving anything comparable.
“All the constituent offences were part and parcel of your role as the selfstyled ‘K! NG’ of the internet. It has been asserted on your behalf you are remorseful. I have seen no outward expression of that.”
Qaiser, who initially denied the crimes and claimed he had been hacked himself, remained expressionless as he was sentenced.
Nigel Leary, a senior NCA investigating officer, said: “Zain Qaiser was an integral part of this organised crime group generating millions of pounds in ransom payments by blackmailing countless victims and threatening them with bogus police investigations.
“The FBI and the US Secret Service have both arrested people in relation to this global malware campaign.
“Cyber criminals cannot operate from behind a veil of anonymity and the NCA has the tenacity and specialist skills to catch them and bring them to justice.”
Qaiser entered guilty pleas to an 11-count indictment, admitting three counts of blackmail; three counts of fraud by false representation; four counts of doing an unauthorised act with intent to impair the operation of a computer; and one count of possessing criminal property.