A man from Colchester who helped hackers to beat anti-virus software has been given a 24 month prison sentence.

A man from Colchester who helped hackers to beat anti-virus software has been given a 24 month prison sentence.

Goncalo Esteves, 24 of Cape Close was sentenced yesterday at Blackfriars Crown Court in London.

Esteves pleaded guilty to two counts of computer misuse offences and a count of money laundering last month.

Esteves ran a website called reFUD.me which used crypter tools known as Cryptex Reborn and Cryptex Lite to allow hackers to test their malicious software to see if it could beat anti-virus software.

He then sold these tools for use in packages that varied in price according to the length of their licence.

Working under the pseudonym KillaMuvz, Esteves also sold custom-made malware-disguising products and offered technical support to users via the video calling software, Skype.

An investigation into his crimes was carried out jointly between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and cyber security firm Trend Micro.

Officers from the NCA raided Esteves’ home back in November 2015.

There they arrested Esteves and a 22-year old woman.

No further action was taken against the young woman.

Esteves had initially pleaded not guilty when brought up in front of Colchester Magistrates Court last March, claiming that the software was designed for legitimate use.

NCA officers found that Esteves had made £32,000 from more than 800 Paypal transactions between 2011 and 2015.

In addition to this Esteves also accepted payments in Bitcoin and Amazon vouchers meaning that the true amount that Esteves made from the operation could be far higher.

Mike Hulett, head of operations at the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said:

“Esteves helped hackers to sharpen their knives before going after their victims.

“His clients were most likely preparing to target businesses and ordinary people with fraud and extortion attempts.

“He made a fair bit of money, but he’d probably have made much more, and certainly for longer, if he’d pursued a legitimate career in cyber security.

“We’re grateful to Trend Micro for their ongoing support in tackling cyber crime.”