The jailed gang infected computers with a Trojan horse that made
premium rate telephone calls.
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have welcomed
the sentencing to jail of two men who infected more than 100,000
computers with a Trojan horse that generated more than 12 million
Euros ($15.8 million).
A court in Osnabrück sentenced one of the men to 4 years in
jail, and the other to a 39 month sentence, for their part in a
criminal scheme that subverted innocent internet users' PCs with a
Trojan horse that dialled premium rate 0190 phone numbers to
contact a pornographic website. The men, one aged 31 and the other
35 years old, generated over 12 million Euros in income from the
premium rate phone calls made via infected PCs' modems between July
2002 - September 2003.
"These hackers infected a staggering 100,000 PCs and forced them
to dial a premium rate number to make them cold, hard cash. The
German authorities have done well in bringing these offenders to
justice," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "All computer
users need to put in place a proper defense to ensure their
computers do not become targeted by internet criminals. Every PC
should be properly defended by up-to-date anti-virus software,
firewalls, and the latest security patches."
Such was the scale of the operation that the prosecution asked
the court to fine the men 7.75 million Euros in addition to the
jail sentence, however this request was rejected for legal
reasons.
In the summer, two other men were jailed for 18 and 22 months in
connection with the case.
"Other hackers should look long and hard at the punishment these
men have received and ask themselves whether they really think
internet crime is a career they wish to continue pursuing,"
continued Cluley.
Sophos recommends that all computer users should ensure that
they are running an automatically updated anti-virus product, security patches and firewall
software.
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.