A Japanese teen has been arrested for allegedly creating malware that steals private keys of cryptocurrency wallets. The 17-year-old boy is suspected of using the malware for stealing funds from victims. At the moment, no charges have been filed and the boy is under investigation for the cybercrime.
An arrest warrant issued for the boy alleged that the teen had hidden the malware inside some software that was used for viewing real time data regarding cryptocurrency market. The teen is alleged to have shared the software on online forums.
One such forum where the teen had uploaded the software was on a forum created for Monacoin users. The cryptocurrencyis regarded as first Japanese Bitcoin-offshoot cryptocurrency. The market value of the cryptocurrency is currently ranked 88th on CoinMarketCap.
According to the Japanese police, at least one man is alleged to have downloaded the application. The 31-year-old man from Tokyo had later said that he found 170 Monacoids (about $500) missing from his cryptocurrency wallet. He said that other forum users had posted warnings about the application but at that time it was too late.
The Japanese teen is a high school student in the third year and lives in Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture. He was arrested on suspicion of the crime on January 30. Authorities believe that the Japanese teenager who uploaded the file is behind this latest malware attack. They say that the boy had stolen passwords to steal the funds and that the actual number of victims might be higher. The boy had defended himself by saying that he had not committed the crime with malicious intent.
