Local Internet Crime Gang Busted in South Africa, 13 Held

The law enforcement authorities in South Africa have busted a local cyber crime gang, said the latest security reports.

Located in Pretoria, the gang had 13 members who stole a significant amount from financial institutions and government departments by using a spyware that acquires sensitive passwords. According to the South African law enforcement officials, the scam began in the year 2006, with theft of sensitive information like password through fake EFTs (Electronic Fund Transfers).

Tummi Golding, Senior Superintendent and police spokesperson, said that the spyware mainly targets the usernames and passwords of government salary systems. After accessing the critical information, it is used to effect fake EFTs into accounts owned by hackers who have opened them by using fake documents, as reported by IREXAMINER on November 25, 2008.

While the South African security officials have traced a gang of cyber criminals, security experts have stated that identity theft by using malicious programs has become a critical menace. Though the awareness of online dangers and the number of security software available in the market are increasing, identity theft continues to be a big problem.

According to the security experts, human fallibility is the main reason for the success of identity theft, but some initiatives by users can prevent them from becoming victims to fraudsters.

Security experts further stated that hackers use very simple methods, like taking over less guarded and less critical workstation, to acquire valuable and confidential data. They download a keylogger on the targeted machine to acquire credentials that help them to access heavily secured segments of the business infrastructure and a huge amount of netizens' personal information.

Security experts also added that the Trojan keyloggers are generally aimed at Internet users without updated antivirus solutions and firewalls to capture usernames and passwords. Moreover, the possibility of crashing down such systems due to installation of unwanted virus increases significantly. They recommended that users should install software that encrypts keystrokes.

Besides this, security experts asked online users to guard themselves properly while surfing on the net and restrain from disclosing their personal details on social networking sites as they could be harnessed by fraudsters to use in other phishing scams.

Related article: LaSalle Bank Customers Receiving Phishing E-mails

» SPAMfighter News - 10-12-2008

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