After a dozen raids around the world, police are detaining the hackers behind 'RAT' software, which lets attackers take over Facebook accounts and infect computers

More than 100 people worldwide have been arrested following an FBI-led crackdown on hackers linked to a "remote administration tool" called Blackshades.

Raids took place in more than a dozen countries, according to officials who spoke to Time magazine, and involved law enforcement agencies in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. According to the UK's National Crime Agency, 17 of those arrested were based in Britain.

The charges are still sealed, but US prosectors are expected to announce some of the results at a press conference midday in New York.

Known as a RAT or backdoor, Blackshades and other software like it allows attackers to remotely seize control of a users' computer, turning on webcams, stealing passwords and personal information, and launching further attacks on other computers. The software itself is not illegal, and can be bought for as little as $40, but installing it on a victim's computer without their knowledge is against the law in most countries.

In 2012, an FBI sting resulted in the arrest of more than 20 people involved with the programme, including Michael Hogue, allegedly the software's lead coder under the name xVisceral. Despite the arrest, researchers from Symantec saw a rise in infections over the second half of 2013.

Troy Gill, senior security analyst at AppRiver, thinks that these arrests are linked to Hogue's. "Even though these busts have come a little later than might be expected," he says, "it is not inconceivable to think that information or access gleaned in the author's arrest could have been instrumental in facilitating this coordinated effort."

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