VB Migration

Tag: cybercrime

  • 18 months for member of m00p gang

    Hacker receives prison sentence. A Scottish man who pleaded guilty last month to ‘causing unauthorized modification to the content of computers’ as part of his involvement in the m00p hacking group has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Today’s sentencing was the culmination of a joint operation between the UK’s Metropolitan Police and Finnish…

  • Success in anti-botnet operation

    VB Seminar speaker describes how m00p gang member exploited computer users. A Scottish man pleaded guilty last month to ‘causing unauthorized modification to the content of computers’ as part of his involvement in the m00p hacking group. The case was the culmination of a joint operation between the UK’s Metropolitan Police and Finnish authorities who…

  • Out-of-band patch release from Adobe

    Unscheduled update released by Adobe. Adobe has released an unscheduled patch for its Reader and Acrobat programs to address some critical flaws. The software company’s fixes usually follow a quarterly release schedule, and last month saw a bumper crop, so none were expected to be published this month, but the vulnerabilities in Reader and Acrobat…

  • Warrant issued for arrest of cyclist turned hacker

    Cyclist accused of planting trojan at dope testing lab. A French judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of US cyclist Floyd Landis in connection with a computer hacking case. Landis initially won the famous Tour de France cycle race in 2006, but was later stripped of his title when tests indicated that he…

  • Webmail data leak hype deflated

    Rumoured phishing explosion grabs headlines, reality much more mundane. This week has seen some major news organisations picking up on the story of tens of thousands of sets of webmail access data appearing online, with rumours of a major and highly effective phishing campaign – possibly targeting children – rife across the web. As the…

  • Rogue AV claims to send money to environmental causes

    ‘Green AV’ best added to blacklist to avoid red faces. In an attempt to lure users into buying it, the rogue anti-malware product Green AV claims to send US$2 per purchased product to the Amazon rainforest. Like similar pieces of software, Green AV uses legitimate end-user concerns about malware and spyware to try and persuade…

  • Keyloggers used to loot US county

    $415,000 sneaked from local government funds. A Kentucky county has suffered losses of $415,000 after keylogging malware infiltrated its computer systems, allowing cybercriminals access to sensitive user data which let them syphon cash to accounts in the Ukraine. Custom variants of the Zbot trojan were used to steal the passwords of the county treasurer, and…

  • MS forms anti-Conficker alliance

    Industry group to combine efforts, reward offered. Microsoft has announced a collaborative effort to combat the Conficker (aka Downadup) botnet, the widespread infection making headlines over the past few weeks. In addition, Microsoft is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the botnet’s creators. The partnership includes web management groups such as…

  • MS report finds phishing revenues overhyped

    Huge earnings may be myth, say researchers. A report from Microsoft analysing the potential income of phishers claims that the amounts taken from duped victims of online scams may not be as high as numerous recent surveys have estimated. A duo of researchers looked into various aspects of the phishing economy, and found that figures…

  • UK to adopt Euro police hacking scheme

    Remote search and cyber patrol plans approved. The UK Home Office has signed up to a European initiative, proposed in November, to grant police forces greater powers to hack into computers and monitor internet traffic in search of incriminating evidence. The UK police already admits to engaging in cyber-espionage on occasion, in some cases with…