A 24-year-old computer hacker in Laval was arrested by the RCMP on Tuesday morning.
Joseph Mercier is charged with the unauthorized use of computers and will appear in court in Laval on July 19.
Mercier is believed to be the source of a “botnet”- a group of computers infected and remotely controlled by a hacker.
He allegedly infected his employer’s computer network to commit some of his crimes.
The suspect was in charge of computer security for the company where he worked.
Most of the computer networks affected were in Quebec, but the botnet also took control of servers in Russia, the Arab Emirates, France and the United States.
The botnet allowed the suspect to remotely log into the computers of private individuals and businesses.
He was then able to log keystrokes, copy computer files for the purpose of stealing the identity of users, visualize and record users’ webcam images and send out spam messages.
All this was done without users’ knowledge.
Two of Mercier’s alleged victims include school boards in the Monteregie region.
The investigation that led to charges against Mercier was initiated in December 2010.
Also helping in the investigation were police in Longueuil and Quebec City.
A number of searches have been conducted – including at a victim’s residence, the suspect’s home and at his employer’s.
The RCMP is continuing to uncover potential accomplices of suspects and possible victims.
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