José Manuel García Rodríguez could be jailed for up to 40
years.
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have welcomed
the news that authorities have extradited from Argentina a man who
is suspected of hacking hundreds of thousands of euros from bank
accounts.
José Manuel García Rodríguez was arrested in July 2005 in
Carcarañá, Argentina, where he was known to inhabitants as "el
Gordo España" (the fat Spaniard). On Friday he arrived at Madrid's
Barajas airport on a flight from Buenas Aires, accompanied by two
Interpol officers.
"García Rodríguez is accused of being Spain's biggest ever
hacker, and could face a sentence of up to 40 years in prison if
the charges against him are proven," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "It's encouraging to see
international authorities working closely together across
continents to bring computer criminals to justice. If found guilty,
el Gordo España could soon be on a prison diet of bread and
water."
24-year-old García Rodríguez, who is said to have used the
pseudonym "Tasmania" in hacking circles, fled Spain two years ago,
having been accused of stealing online banking passwords and
breaking into accounts. Nine international arrest warrants have
been issued for his detention.
"Criminals are stealing fortunes from online bank accounts, and
all internet users need to be properly protected to ensure that
their confidential passwords and usernames are not falling into the
hands of hackers," continued Cluley
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.