The hackers have been sentenced to up to eight years in a Chinese
jail.
IT security and control firm Sophos has reminded hackers of the
consequences of cybercrime, following the announcement that a
Chinese court has handed out hefty jail sentences to four men who
used a Trojan horse to steal bank account information.
According to media reports, the
men stole more than 100,000 yuan (over $14,000) from internet bank
accounts after distributing a spyware Trojan horse.
Shanghai's Intermediate People's court sentenced Chen Feng, Yu
Li and Zhang Wei to prison for between six and a half to eight
years, after finding them guilty of larceny. The men were also
fined between 40,000 and 60,000 yuan. A fellow conspirator, Zhao
Gang, who drew money out of cash machines, was sentenced to 30
months in prison for hiding illegal income.
The court heard that the men discussed stealing identities with
malware to break into online bank accounts in early 2007. In just
over a month they stole 127,800 yuan (US $18,000) from the bank
accounts of three victims, transferring the money into an account
set up by Yu Li, before withdrawing cash at different ATMs.
"Hackers need to think long and hard about whether it's worth
the risk before embarking on their life of crime. An eight year
jail sentence is one of the toughest we have ever seen in
connection with malware. Spending time in a Chinese jail for such a
small reward seems an enormously dangerous gamble for
cybercriminals to make," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Sadly we are seeing more and
more malware emerging from China, much of it designed to steal
information from unsuspecting computer users. The advice for
consumers and businesses remains to secure their computers with
tight defenses."
Sophos recently published its Security
Threat Report 2008, which revealed that over half of the
world's malware is hosted on webpages based in China:
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can control network access
and defend against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and
viruses.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.