Security News > 2022 > July > Australia charges dev of Imminent Monitor RAT used by domestic abusers
An Australian man was charged for developing and selling the Imminent Monitor remote access trojan, used to spy on victims' devices remotely.
Yesterday, the Australian Federal Police announced that they had charged an Australian man, age 24, for developing and selling the Imminent Monitor software.
The Imminent Monitor operation started in 2013 when the developer began promoting the product on hacking forums and a dedicated website.
In April 2019, a member of a hacking forum warned that ShockWave had gone missing and that he was likely arrested, warning Imminent Monitor customers that they would probably be facing legal action due to their use of the software.
Seven months later, in November, Europol announced a global law enforcement operation that led to the seizure of over 430 devices involved in the Imminent Monitor operation and the imminentmethods.net website used to promote the software.
As part of this operation, law enforcement shut down the Imminent Monitor platform and arrested 13 of its most prolific users.