 Gang Jailed for
Creating 12 Million Euro Trojan Horse
- 21/12/2006 |
A German gang were today jailed for infecting
computers with a Trojan horse that made premium rate telephone calls.
Experts at spam and virus centres across the globe have welcomed the
sentencing to jail two of the men who infected more than 100,000 computers
with a Trojan horse that generated more than 12 million Euros ($15.8
million).
One of the
guilty men was sentenced by a court to
4 years in jail while the other
received a shorter 39 month sentence for his input into the criminal
scheme that corrupted innocent internet users' PCs with a Trojan horse
that dialled premium rate 0190 phone numbers to contact a pornographic
website generating over 12 million Euros in income for the men via the
premium rate phone calls made via infected PCs' modems between July 2002 -
September 2003. Two other men were jailed in the Summer for 18 and 22
months in connection with the case.
“These hackers infected a staggering 100,000 PCs and forced them to dial a
premium rate number to make them cold, hard cash. The German authorities
have done well in bringing these offenders to justice," said
Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "All computer
users need to put in place a proper defense to ensure their computers do
not become targeted by internet criminals. Every PC should be properly
defended by up-to-date anti-virus software, firewalls, and the latest
security patches."
"Other hackers should look long and hard at the punishment these men have
received and ask themselves whether they really think internet crime is a
career they wish to continue pursuing," continued Cluley.
The scale of this operation forced the prosecution to ask the court to not
only jail the men but also to additionally fine them 7.75 million Euros.
This request however was not granted for legal reasons.
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Source: Sophos
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