Student Who Sold Cyber Attack Software Is Jailed

Uploaded on 2024-07-22 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, FREE TO VIEW

A Scottish university student from who made tens of thousands of pounds using cyber attack software that brought down websites has been jailed for 21 months.

Amar Tagore, a 21 year old, had earned almost £45,000 from his website, which offered buyers a malicious software designed to disrupt corporate and state-run sites.

Tagore supplied a tool used by hundreds of online customers to carry out Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attacks on systems which forces users to take their websites offline.

The third-year cyber security student was sentenced at Dumbarton Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to computer misuse charges and a breach of proceeds of crime legislation. Police were alerted to Tagore’s criminal conduct after the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) suffered regular DDOS’ attacks at their job centre site in Essex between 2022 and 2022.

Officers identified a suspect whose mobile phone was found to run a programme called “Myra” which was running two different attack “commands” towards the DWP computer system.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Maclean, of Police Scotland’s Cybercrime Investigations Unit, said: “Tagore supplied a tool used by his customers to carry out Distributed Denial of Services (DDOS) attacks. These are often used to attack commercial systems, taking websites offline and causing widespread disruption”. Further investigations traced the “Myra” home page and its IP address to Tagore, with a search carried out of a house he shared with his parents in November 2022.

The website provided different Myra packages that could be purchased, and Tagore also provided technical support to those who bought the software. Analysis of his laptop revealed 73,347 search references that included the word “Myra”, with another 1,131 found on his mobile phone.

Investigators found that between January 2020 and November 2022, the 21-year-old earned £44,433 from the sales of malicious software.

The “normal” package claimed to be for beginners, while the VIP package would give users a “larger network increase and complex vector structures”. A VIP+ package stated that it had “access to all add-on packages for full accessibility to the network. Specialised with your attack suite to meet any desires.”

Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Amar Tagore’s criminal conduct had the potential to cause serious disruption to government-affiliated and commercial websites all over the world... This investigation involved domestic and international partners and reflects the worldwide nature of cybercrime investigations which does not stop at traditional borders."

Image: Ideogram

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