CCTV Spots Man Injecting Malware into Firm’s Computer

A cyber crook forcibly entered the office of a recruitment firm and remained there for hours. He installed malware on a computer to steal confidential commercial information remotely. As per the reports, on December 17, 2009, the thief broke into the Support Staff Australasia Office at Dulwich.

Barry Blundell, Senior Sergeant and Detective at the Commercial and Electronic Crime Branch, said the CCTV cameras deployed at the office premises spotted the man while he was operating the computer, as reported by The Advertiser on January 18, 2010.

Blundell further said that scanning of the computer enabled to detect a software code with which someone could access the firm's other PCs remotely.

The footage from the CCTV showed how the suspect opened the office doors prior to working on the computer to carry out his task that lasted for a few hours. Further, it is alleged that the suspect even stole some equipments and cash.

Next day when the office staff arrived, it had discovered the hack and examined the CCTV footage after which it informed Police. This early alert to police in reality helped to prevent the use of the remote access code, Blundell added.

Notably, the thief's motive couldn't be known. One possibility could be that he attempted to gather sensitive data. According to Richard Gilham, owner of the firm, the sensitive data is the information about a Federal Government contract for hiring nurses from foreign countries, as reported by AlertBoot on January 18, 2010.

Commenting on the abovementioned possibility, Blundell stated that if the thief just wanted to destroy certain database, a storage media could have easily done that, as reported by SCMagazine on January 20, 2010.

Meanwhile, the method by which the person was able to gain admission to the computer remains unknown. Nevertheless, it is believed that he was probably once a member of the firm's staff.

According to reports, the police seized the computer infected by the malware. Further, a computer forensics analysis was also done through which the malicious software code was detected.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/28/2010