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| Premium-rate diallers are often used to access
pornographic adult websites |
The UK's telephone industry regulator, ICSTIS, has warned
consumers of the increasing number of internet users who have
fallen victim to premium-rate telephone fraud.
ICSTIS has received a surge in complaints from users who have
received excessive phone bills having been hit by Trojan horses on
their computer, which have taken over their PC's modem connection
to make calls to premium-rate numbers. The increase in complaints
has forced ICSTIS to ask the National Hi-tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) to
investigate the claims, many of which appear to be about
premium-rate "adult" phone services based in Moldova.
In 2003 the percentage internet-related complaints about
premium-rate services as a proportion of the total number of
customers making complaints about high telephone bills was 70 per
cent. A rise from 2002 when it was 43 per cent, according to
ICSTIS.
"A Trojan horse, secretly installed upon your computer, can
change your internet settings so you always use a premium-rate
number rather than your regular ISP's dial-up code," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Often these
premium-rate diallers are installed to allow you access to an adult
pornographic website, but they may also be used by others who are
less upfront about how they intend to change the settings on your
computer."
Sophos advises users that diallers are not likely to affect
broadband users, but only computer users who still connect to the
internet via a dial-up modem.
Anti-virus software like Sophos
Anti-Virus can detect known Trojan horses that secretly change
dial-up settings, but as there are more being written all the time
computer users are advised to be very careful about software they
allow to run on their computer. Broadband users are recommended to
check whether their computer still has a dial-up modem connected to
a telephone line, which could be exploited by this type of
attack.
"All computer users should keep their virus protection fully
updated to protect against the latest malware attacks," continued
Cluley.
BT has published an advisory on its website telling customers how
to avoid premium-rate dial-up fraud. British users who have
suffered from expensive premium-rate services can file a complaint on ICSTIS's website.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.