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| Phishers steal money and confidential data from
internet users. |
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have welcomed
the news that Czech authorities have arrested a man suspected of
involvement in a gang which phished the bank accounts of innocent
internet users.
In what is said to be the first arrest of its kind in the Czech
Republic, a man was arrested while waiting at a bank counter in
Prague, where he was said to have been attempting to pick up money
stolen through the phishing scheme. If found guilty, the man faces
up to 12 years in prison.
According to the police, the detained man was hired by a
criminal gang to withdraw money from a bank account, which had had
funds transferred to it from plundered accounts belonging to
Citibank customers. The gang is said to have sent a number of
emails disguised as communications from Citibank, asking for
recipients to confirm their bank account details and other personal
data.
"The Czech police deserves congratulations for investigating
this case and making its first phishing arrest. But this is just an
opening move in a long game, and we also need to see firm action
taken against the phisher kings," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Sophos experts have for a long
time been aware of criminal gangs operating in eastern Europe,
which is sadly becoming one of the world's hotspots for internet
crime. Everyone needs to be on their guard against phishing, and
ensure that their finances are not being put at risk."
Sophos recommends companies protect their email with a consolidated solution to thwart the virus and spam
threats and secure their desktops and servers with automatically
updated anti-virus protection.
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.