High School Hackers Arrested for Planting Computer Viruses

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.chinatimes.com.tw//english/esociety/89082202.htm

Chinese Times Interactive
2000.08.22 2:04am Taiwan time updated

Taipei, Aug. 21 (CNA) Three local high school students were arrested
on Monday for allegedly running Trojan programs to steal dial-up
account passwords from compromised computer systems.  According to the
Ninth Investigation Corps of the Criminal Investigation Bureaus (CIB),
which handles computer crime, the three teenagers were still beaming
with pride during questioning when they described their attacks.

The students allegedly scanned specific regions of the Internet for
computers that had already been infected with the SunSeven and NetSpy
Trojan programs, which act as local servers that allow any hacker with
appropriate client programs to remotely access the local system and
acquire otherwise secure information such as passwords.

The stolen information can then allow hackers to run up huge charges
with a victim's Internet service provider.

CIB officials said that there has been a recent increase in reports of
compromised systems, stolen account numbers, and skyrocketing dial-up
fees that are linked to the two programs.

Police said that Trojans normally infect large corporate computer
systems, but added that any individual's computer can be vulnerable.

Most commercial anti-virus programs can only detect popular Trojans,
while the rest slip past unnoticed. With over 600 Trojans out in
cyberspace and a noted lack of anti-Trojan programs that can recognize
them all and weed them out, computer users should be wary of opening
any executable email attachments, even from known sources.

Strange or unexplained dialogue boxes with conversation or keystrokes
entered with a user's interaction may also be indications of a Trojan
infection.


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