Hackers sell access to government PCs

Posted on 22 Apr 2009 at 14:45

A criminal gang that has hacked millions of government and business computers is selling these systems on the internet. For the right money anyone can buy the ability to control the systems and download files. The deals are being done on a Russian hacker forum.

The gang of cyber-criminals has created a network of two million PCs across the world. Among these are computers in 77 UK and US government-owned domains.

The hackers can control the compromised PCs remotely, ordering them to run commands. They can read emails, copy files, record keystrokes, send spam and take screenshots to monitor the authorised users' activities.

"This is one of the largest bot networks controlled by a single team of cyber-criminals that we found this year," said security firm Finjan in its blog. "Let's imagine for a moment that your infected computer is being traded without you knowing about it, or that your company's infected computer is being traded. And what about your government agency infected computer being traded, isn't it scary?"

The company said a group of six cyber-criminals are controlling the botnet using a server hosted in Ukraine. They have been creating the network since February 2009.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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