Sixteen people have been arrested in several European countries, including five from the UK, over alleged involvement in remote computer hacking.
The UK’s national law enforcement agency National Crime Agency (NCA) reported that the accused have been using remote access trojans (RATs) to pinch financial information and use webcams for surveillance activities.
The latest arrests have been made following raids carried out by the NCA, along with agencies from several Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), over several days targeting the threat posed by tools called RATs.
The five indivisuals detained in the UK were in Leeds, Chatham, Darlington, and Liverpool while other 11 were picked up in Estonia, France, Romania, Latvia, Italy, and Norway.
In addition to arresting the accused, the NCA is also alerting individuals that any move into cyber exploit would result in further action.
ACPO Cyber Crime lead Peter Goodman said: "The response on this occasion has been enforcement action through the National Crime Agency and Regional Organised Crime Units in the UK, and Europol overseas, to strike a blow against a particularly pernicious and invasive form of cyber-criminality.
"Nevertheless, there is so much the public can do to safeguard their data and to prevent falling victim to the activities of cyber criminal."
