Threat of Chinese Hackers on Rise

In China, four men found guilty for a malware scam infecting several thousands of Windows PCs around the country have been jailed.

Fujacks worm, also called Worm.Whboy, which hit headlines recently this year, was the malware used by the men. It retrieves usernames and passwords from online games players by converting icons of the infected programs in a panda burning joss-sticks that depicts a picture.

A court in Xiantao city in China pronounced a 4-year prison sentence on Li Jun after he admitted that he wrote the virus and sold that to 12 other criminals at a price of over 100,000 Yuan or $15,337.

The other three convicts were jailed for period ranging from 1 to 2.5-years for their roles in the scam.

Sophos' senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley, said that it was encouraging to see the authorities taking measures against the criminals as the Chinese cybercriminals are hitting PCs in China as well as computer users worldwide, as per GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY news on September 24, 2007. He also added that the Sophos experts noted an astonishing proportion of malware that has been designed in China and is programmed to steal credentials from Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) players, which provides the hackers with profit stream and who will then sell this information to the maximum bidder.

The Chinese police were considering releasing a clean-up plan written by Li Jun earlier in 2007.

Cluley said that in spite of a program written by the worm author to clear his plague, it did not draw him any sympathy from the authorities. He further said that hackers needed to be wise enough if they did not want to face the same fate.

A Sophos report found that more than half the malevolent program originating in China last year was devised to steal the passwords.

Of late, hackers from China are all over the headlines. The US, the UK and Germany governments that had been the targets of online attacks accused the Chinese hackers who are working for the Chinese PLA (People's Liberation Army), prompting furious denials by China.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/10/2007