[ISN] Russian Gang Hijacking PCs in Vast Scheme

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/technology/06hack.html

By JOHN MARKOFF
The New York Times
August 5, 2008

A criminal gang is using software tools normally reserved for computer 
network administrators to infect thousands of PCs in corporate and 
government networks with programs that steal passwords and other 
information, a security researcher has found.

The new form of attack indicates that little progress has been made in 
defusing the threat of botnets, networks of infected computers that 
criminals use to send spam, steal passwords and do other forms of 
damage, according to computer security investigators.

Several security experts say that although attacks against network 
administrators are not new, the systematic use of administrative 
software to spread malicious software has not been widely seen until 
now.

The gang was identified publicly in May by Joe Stewart, director of 
malware research at SecureWorks, a computer security firm in Atlanta. 
Mr. Stewart, who has determined that the gang is based in Russia, was 
able to locate a central program controlling as many as 100,000 infected 
computers across the Internet. The program was running at a commercial 
Internet hosting computer center in Wisconsin.

[...]


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