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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 members of an alleged international phishing gang
have been arrested following an FBI investigation.
More than 20 FBI offices are said to have been involved in the
investigation into the global identity theft ring, which is claimed
to have been involved in a phishing attack against a major
financial institution between August and October 2004.
In an investigation called "Operation Cardkeeper", FBI agents,
working with local authorities, identitifed a criminal ring who
were allegedly selling stolen identities, credit card and bank
account information through a forum on an internet website.
The suspected ringleader of the gang, a Polish man known as
"Blindroot", is said to have hacked into third party computers to
rent out webspace to other criminals who wanted to host bogus
websites for the purposes of phishing.
Four arrests were made in the USA and 13 people were apprehended
in Poland. The American suspects were caught with cards and
machines used to encode data onto blank credit cards and when
authorities attempted to search the premises, one suspect tried to
flush counterfeit credit cards down the toilet. In addition to the
arrests, raids were reportedly carried out in New York, Texas,
Tennessee, Nebraska, Georgia and Ohio, and search warrants served
on three other suspects under investigation in Romania.
"The authorities fighting computer crime should be applauded for
working together across international boundaries to break up these
criminal gangs," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Phishing and identity theft are
global problems, and countries need to work more closely with each
other to bring the bad guys to justice. Although the news of these
arrests is good news, it's only the tip of the iceberg as there are
many other phishers still at large."
Sophos experts encourage all computer users to learn how to
reduce the risk
of being hit by a phishing attack.
"All computer users should exercise caution over the emails they
open, which websites they visit, and who they give their
confidential information to as they may find they are falling into
a hacker's trap," continued Cluley.
Sophos recommends companies protect their desktops, servers and
gateways with a consolidated solution to
thwart the threats of viruses, spyware, phishing and spam.
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.