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| US Attorney John Ashcroft announced the arrests
in Washington DC. |
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and
viruses, has welcomed the US authorities firm action against
suspected spammers, phishers and other cybercriminals in "Operation
Web Snare".
US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the arrest or
conviction of more than 150 people in connection with online
computer crimes. The charges include the use of spam email to steal
credit card numbers, online fraud and computer hacking.
According to the US Justice Department, the suspects were
identified during the course of "Operation Web Snare", which
co-ordinated more than 160 federal investigations into internet
crimes, which are said to have claimed around 150,000 victims and
caused $215 million in estimated losses.
"Operation Web Snare shows that America's justice community is
seeking to anticipate, out think and adapt to new trends in
internet crime," said Ashcroft in a press statement. "This effort
shows how effective law enforcement can be against online crime
when all levels of government - domestically and internationally -
work together."
"It's good to see the US take positive action against the many
scammers, spammers and other abusers of the internet," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "However, this
does not mean that companies should rest on their laurels when it
comes to protecting themselves from internet crooks and vandals,
With more and more people recognising the fortunes which can be
made through internet crime there are unfortunately plenty waiting
in the wings."
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend businesses
from the threats of both spam and viruses.
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.