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BBC Launch Second Hacking Demonstration Hacking

Following the recent controversial demonstration of botnet functions, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has released a new demo of how Trojan attacks generally work. The main difference between the current demo and previous one is more humble approach of the company.

The Trojan attack demonstration exercise posted on the BBC news website on May 18, 2009. It highlights that cyber criminals use spyware-infected PC to siege users' passwords and to watch their activities provided a webcam is installed on the machine.

The BBC has taken the assistance of reformed hacker Jacques Erasmus working at PrevX. To describe the attack, BBC researchers modified the wallpapers of already compromised machines to warn their users about the infection. At the beginning of the demo exercise, a caption displays saying the simulation shows illegal activities. Later on another caption comes out - victim knows his machine is under researchers' control.

It is quite clear that BBC has adopted a different approach in the latest act from the earlier one. The previous exercise came under huge controversy, but this time the corporation has taken all necessary measures and sought permission of a PC owner before hacking it.

While commenting on the BBC recent experiment, Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos, said that he disliked the BBC reaction when it performed the 'BBC Click' exercise. The Broadcasting unit reaction was very unethical as it censored his views, as reported by sophos on May 18, 2009.

Mark Perrow, Executive Producer, BBC Click, said that people were not much interested in knowing what malware could do, but they were more inclined to see everything in action, as reported by The Register on May 19, 2009.

Struan Robertson, Editor of out-law.com and a legal expert, said that the relevance of powerful public interest debate was lost, if an offense came under the UK computer hacking law, as reported by The Register on May 19, 2009.

However, the recent BBC campaign has received praise from many, including security experts, who believe that this exercise will raise awareness among people about the growing threat of compromised PCs in much more powerful way than any of the government operated security awareness campaign.

Related article: BBC’s Subscriber Mailing List Hacked By Spammers

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