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| Spanish police have arrested a man suspected of
writing a Trojan horse which spied on users via webcams. |
Trojan is said to have infected computers around the world
The Spanish Civil Guard has announced that it has detained a man
in Madrid in connection with writing a Trojan horse distributed via
peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The Trojan allegedly written by
the 37-year-old man is said to have allowed him to steal
confidential banking information from web users and take secret
video recordings through their webcams.
A statement by the Civil Guard explained that
they have been probing the case since July 2004 in an investigation
known as "Operation Tic-Tac". The investigation began after an
Alicante man noticed his PC was behaving unusually and reported his
suspicions to the authorities.
The suspect's identity has not been revealed, other than his
initials: J.A.S. Details have not yet emerged as to the name of the
Trojan horse that the suspect is alleged to have created, but
police claim that they have found evidence of computers being hit
by the Trojan horse around the world.
According to the Spanish police, when they went to the suspect's
apartment they found him spying on people through their webcams.
The Trojan is said to have allowed the hacker to capture
keystrokes, steal confidential information such as online banking
passwords, examine personal documents and pictures - as well as
activate victims' webcams whenever he wished.
"Viruses and Trojan horses are not harmless pranks; they cause
real harm disrupting business and personal communications as well
as often destroying and stealing sensitive data," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Computer crime authorities
around the world are better equipped than ever at hunting down the
perpetrators of hacking and virus crimes. Those responsible for
creating malicious code should be asking themselves whether it's
really worth taking the risk."
Sophos believes that there is growing trend of more and more
malware spying on innocent home computer owners and
poorly-protected businesses.
"With many home users keeping poorly-defended PCs in their
bedroom, there is considerable potential for abuse. The message is
simple - keep your PC protected against the latest threats with
anti-virus software and firewalls, and if in any doubt unplug your
webcam when you're not using it," continued Cluley.
Last year a 27-year-old Spanish man was sentenced to two years in
prison for writing a Trojan horse said to have infected over
100,000 computers.
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.