Threat Management, Threat Management

British hacker arrested for cyberattacks against Pokemon, Google, and Skype.

A British computer hacker was arrested on charges stemming from launching thousands of cyber-attacks against firms, including Pokemon, Google and Skype.

Alex Bessell, 21, of Aigburth, Liverpool, U.K., was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of other offenses, including money laundering after police raided his home and found that Bessell had seized remote control of at least 9,083 computers, without their owner's permission, to create a massive botnet, according to the BBC. Bessell reportedly admitted to nine charges at an earlier court appearance.

Bessell reportedly created a company, called Aiobuy, on the dark web to sell malware that would allow its users to conduct their own attacks and steal data all under the guise of a false address to give his company a legitimate status.

Authorities said he made more than £50,000 in proceeds from selling the malware and that his site advertised 9,077 items, had 1,000,000 recorded visitors, and more than 34,000 sales.

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