Carnegie Mellon University student pleads guilty to marketing spy app for Android phones

A Carnegie Mellon University student has pleaded guilty to developing and selling malicious software that allowed others to remotely control Google Android smartphones, including using the phones' cameras to spy on their owners.

Morgan Culbertson entered the plea Tuesday to a conspiracy charge in Pittsburgh federal court.

The 20-year-old Culbertson is from the suburb of Churchill. He is one of 12 people living in the United States who were charged by federal prosecutors in the takedown of the Darkode.com cybercriminal marketplace in July.

The online forum was a place where authorities say computer hackers bought and sold malicious software, and otherwise advertised for help in schemes designed to infect computers and cellphones with software that could cripple or illegally control the devices.