China Accuses four in Panda Worm Case

Four hackers in China have been charged for making and spreading the Fujacks worm and researches are claiming that the incident shows the rising volume of cyber-crooks running after the gaming world.

Lei Lei, Zhang Shun, Wang Lei, and Li Jun have been held in the people's court in Hubei Province for the charges against the distribution of Fujacks worm (which is also famous as Worm.Whboy). This worm came into news earlier in 2007 because it can transforms icons of compromised program into a picture of panda who is burning joss sticks as it also pilfers passwords and usernames from the players of online games.

Li Jun, 25, has admitted to have created the Fujacks worm and sold it to around 12 customers for over 100,000 Yuan (US$ 12,500).

According to the law of China, the accused can face an imprisonment for 5 year or more if caught writing or distributing malware. As per the prosecutors, the group sells the private data they steal online with the Fujacks in exchange of huge amount.

Panda or Fujacks was written in October 2006 and was distributed by an infected site and supposedly infected several Windows powered PC in China. Earlier this year, police has claimed that Li Jun has earned around $13,000 by selling the worm to others, but on August 21, 2007,Changjing Times has estimated Jun's total share of more than $19,000.

Further, other members of the gang have also earned a great deal of amount from the sale of worm and from the leaking of usernames and password of the online game. For example, Zhang earned $1,500 and Whang got $10,500.

Senior Technology consultant of Sophos, Graham Cluley, said that as the cyber crime has emerged as source of money, authorities are adopting a stricter approach against the offenders. He also cautioned the attackers to think that if their stolen money is worth or is at useless as it can put them behind the bars, as per the news published by Sophos website on August 22, 2007.

Earlier in 2007, Sophos advised the users about their actions against virus and worms after the news that the police of China is thinking to initiate a clean-up program created by Li Jun.

Related article: China’s Best Initiatives To Deal With Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 9/1/2007