Hackers Hijack Millions of Computers in 'Massive' Fraud Case

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-09/hackers-hijack-millions-of-computers-in-massive-fraud-case.html

By Patricia Hurtado and Michael Riley
Bloomberg
November 09, 2011

The U.S. charged seven people with a “massive” computer intrusion scheme 
that used malicious software to manipulate online advertising, diverted 
users to rogue servers and infected more than 4 million computers in 
more than 100 countries.

One Russian and six Estonians were charged with wire fraud and 
conspiracy in a 27-count indictment unsealed today by Manhattan U.S. 
Attorney Preet Bharara. The cyber-hijacking victims included at least a 
half million individuals, businesses in the U.S. and government 
agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 
Bharara said.

Over at least four years, an information technology company based in 
Estonia made millions of dollars by manipulating the Internet searches 
of infected computers, redirecting users to sites they never intended to 
visit or swapping out advertisements on web pages, according to the 
indictment.

“We believe this criminal case is the first of its kind and arises from 
a cyber infrastructure of the first order,” Bharara said. “The 
defendants were cyber-bandits who hijacked those computers at will, 
controlling and masquerading as legitimate Internet websites.”

[...]

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