U.S. shuts down massive cyber theft ring

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: Reuters

U.S. authorities claimed one of their biggest victories against cyber crime as they shut down a ring they said used malicious software to take control of more than 2 million PCs around the world, and may have led to theft of more than $100 million.

A computer virus, dubbed Coreflood, infected more than 2 million PCs, enslaving them into a "botnet" that grabbed banking credentials and other sensitive data its masters used to steal funds via fraudulent banking and wire transactions, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

The government shuttered that botnet, which had operated for a decade, by seizing hard drives used to run it after a federal court in Connecticut gave the go-ahead.

"This was big money stolen on a large scale by foreign criminals. The FBI wanted to stop it and they did an incredibly good job at it," said Alan Paller, director of research at the SAN Institute, a nonprofit group that helps fight cyber crime.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-cybersecurity-coreflood-idUSTRE73C7NQ20110413

[ClarkUSA]

1. Another reason to be grateful for the Obama administration's priorities.

[Rage for Order]

4. LOL!

I can't decide which priority of the Obama Justice Department I'm more grateful for - this bust or the busts of all those evil marijuana growers in California

[TheFarseer]

2. I think

they should be brutally tortured and killed over the course of several weeks with dull rusty instruments. I mean, they should stand trial and be prosecuted according to the law.

[cliffordu]

3. I hope this is why Guantanamo is still open.....

[girl gone mad]

5. $100 million?

Those banker wives are laughing at these petty thieves.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Took a DECADE?

Really? Wow.

[Citizen Worker]

7. A mere decade! Makes one wonder just how much they managed to steal during that ten year period.

[xchrom]

8. I know, right? Nt

[ixion]

9. "This was big money stolen on a large scale by foreign criminals." So was the bailout

but that didn't stop them.