Teen ransomware ‘K!NG’ blew his loot on drugs, gambling, and sex

For years a teenager living just outside of London helped run an elaborate blackmail operation that bilked honest porn-site visitors out of their hard-earned cash — which he proceeded to blow on drugs, luxury hotels, gambling, sex workers, and at least one fancy £5,000 Rolex watch. 

Now, the 24-year-old Zain Qaiser, who went by K!NG online, has been sentenced to over six years in jail, and we’re getting a better picture of what the National Crime Agency is calling “one of the most sophisticated, serious and organised cyber crime groups” it has ever seen. 

The scheme, which the UK’s NCA says was run in conjunction with a Russian-speaking organized crime group, got its tentacles into future victims’ computers via ads placed on porn sites. A person would click on one of Qaiser’s ads and then be redirected to a page containing the Angler Exploit Kit (AEK). If the computer was vulnerable, it would then install the malicious software. 

Here’s where things get interesting. After installing the ransomware, the victim’s computer would l