BlackShades owner pleads guilty, agrees to serve prison time for malicious software attacks

The co-creator of sophisticated malware known as BlackShades has pleaded guilty in New York to distributing a product that infected over a half-million computers in more than 100 countries.

Alex Yucel entered the plea Wednesday in Manhattan federal court to a single count of distribution of malicious software.

The 24-year-old Yucel told Judge P. Kevin Castel that he hopes to return to Sweden after serving his sentence. Currently incarcerated, Yucel has agreed not to appeal any sentence that's less than 7¼ years in prison. Sentencing was set for May 22.

Yucel was arrested in Moldova in November 2013. Prosecutors said the malware Yucel created was sold to several thousand users in more than 100 countries. They say it essentially allowed customers to remotely take over the computers of others.