Quebec woman accused of hacking into computers, harassing children
27-year-old frightened victims by taking control of equipment: RCMP
A 27-year-old woman from the Lanaudière region has been ordered off the Internet after the RCMP charged her with hacking into computers so she could intimidate people, including several children.
Valérie Gignac, a resident of StAlphonse-Rodriguez, appeared before a judge at the courthouse in Joliette on Wednesday facing four charges.
She is accused of fraudulently using a computer and commit- ting mischief. The charges refer to a brief period near the start of July 2012.
Gignac was granted release after agreeing to follow a series of eight conditions, including one that requires her to cancel her Internet service within 48 hours of her release. Besides not being allowed to reside at a home with Internet access, she also cannot frequent Internet cafés or any similar public place while her case is pending.
According to a statement issued by the RCMP, Gignac is “believed to be at the origin of a botnet, a group of computers infected by a virus and remotely controlled by a hacker.”
She is alleged to have used malicious software known as a remote administration tool (RAT) that allows cybercriminals to spy on victims by taking control of the webcam on an infected computer.
“The investigation shows that the suspect used various methods to harass her victims, including by eavesdropping on private conversations and by communicating with victims through the speakers of their infected computers,” the RCMP said in the statement.
“She also frightened her victims by taking over control of their computers and by logging on to extreme pornography websites. Her victims included underage children both in Canada and abroad.”
Const. Philippe Gravel, the lead investigator with the RCMP’s Integrated Technological Crime Unit, said they stumbled upon the alleged hacker while investigating another case. They noticed a woman from Quebec was reading an online forum for hackers and decided to focus their attention on her.
The unit used to lend support to other RCMP investigations, but in 2010 it received the mandate to take on probes of its own. The investigation was conducted with help from the Sûreté du Québec.
“She’s well known. She’s been known for a while in those (hacker) forums,” Gravel said, adding that computer equipment seized on Wednesday could show how the computers were infected and then taken over remotely.
“So far, we don’t know that,” Gravel said. He added that as of Wednesday, the investigation had yet to show whether Gignac was seeking financial gain through her alleged hacking. “But after further analysis, we should know more.”
The RCMP allege the accused was so brazen that she posted videos of her handiwork on YouTube “in which she can be seen taking over control of infected computers and frightening victims” and that Gignac is the owner of an online hacking forum that has 35,000 users worldwide.
The RCMP also issued an appeal to the public for “information on individuals or groups of persons you suspect to be involved in technological crime.” Anyone with such information is asked to contact the RCMP at 514-939-8300 or 1-800771-5401, or their local police department.