Three MOOP’s Scooped

The Computer Crime Unit of the Metropolitan Police has notified that the police in Finland and UK have arrested three suspected members of the "MOOP" group. The MOOP group is supposed to have gained access to private information stored in "thousands" of corporate machines by spreading trojans via spam e-mails.

A 63 year old from England, a 28 year old from Scotland and a 19 year old from Finland are the three alleged MOOP group members. The three men are being questioned regarding their involvement after computers were "seized at residential addresses in both countries in addition to the suspects' servers", the police confirmed.

According to a Metropolitan Police statement - this highly organized group is suspected of writing new computer viruses in order to avoid detection by anti-virus products. It is estimated that since the year 2005, the MOOP group has been principally targeting UK businesses. They are known to have infected thousands of computers across the globe.

Detective Constable Bob Burls, of the Metropolitan Police Computer Crime Unit said that these men seem to have been connected by means of an online company. He believes that the suspects created and modified viruses with the aim of causing massive infection through spamming. He also added that the arrest of these three suspects could send a warning signal to all who author malicious software. He also stressed that national borders would not be a constraint to the ability and commitment of law enforcement authorities to clamp down on this criminal activity.

According to CNet, the virus is either called "Ryknos", "Breplibot" or "Stinkx", and it is delivered when unwary users click on an attachment to an email which reads: "Hello, Your photograph was forwarded to us as part of an article we are publishing for our December edition of Total Business Monthly. Can you check over the format and get back to us with your approval or any changes? If the picture is not to your liking then please send a preferred one. We have attached the photo with the article here. Kind regards, Jamie Andrews."

The "Breplibot" virus was responsible for exploiting Sony-BMG's infamous rootkit DRM technology in the past. This virus was also delivered via an e-mail similar to the one used by the MOOP group to entrap Internet users.

Related article: Three New Threats With Highest Percentages in Top Ten

» SPAMfighter News - 6/28/2006