China’s Weeklong Holiday to Experience Computer Viruses

Computer users in China should guard themselves against viruses that may infect their systems by spreading through detachable storage devices, Website links, and instant messages during a week's National Day holiday, Internet security professionals warned on September 30, 2007.

Computer worms that were recently detected could infect PCs through Internet TV, entertainment Websites, and MSN; so these bugs are likely to shoot up during the vacation, anti-virus firm Beijing Jiangmin New Sci and Tec Co. said. Shanghaidaily reported this on October 1, 2007.

There are over 15 Million MSN accounts in China and infection has been set in about 84% of them at some stage or the other. Hackers try to intercept users' passwords, online stock and bank account records, virtual weapons, and flash memory storage discs that are vulnerable to virus infection because people exchange pictures through them.

Jiangmin said that one kind of virus known as 'TrojanSpy.banker' is anticipated to bombard the Internet during the weeklong holiday that started from October 1, 2007, as per the English.sina on October 1, 2007.

According to experts, high-level virus infections are spreading because hackers are making money by trading Trojan programs crafted to seize account passwords and perpetrate other Internet crimes. China has been distinguished as the worst region among all the countries of the world hosting computer viruses during the first six months of 2007.

During that period, about 133,700 different types of viruses that were 12% more than 2006 infected around 33.67 Million computers. Of these viruses, 37% originated from the Chinese mainland, or specifically targeted Chinese-language computers, according to a leading anti-virus software vendor, Beijing Rising Corp. China Economic Net published this news in the last week of September 2007. Trojan programs will keep on increasing in China because there is a 'black industry chain', Beijing Rising Corp. added.

People who buy the Trojan programs from hackers disseminate them via the Internet to sweep in passwords and account numbers. They then sell the account information on auction sites like taobao.com. Some hackers attack online stocks or bank accounts to steal funds in small quantities, or engage in money laundering, Rising said.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/18/2007