Arrest Shows Focus on Bot Viruses
The arrest of a 20-year-old California man accused of profiting from networks of hijacked computers, among the first cases of its kind, illustrates law enforcement's increased focus on the growing scourge of "bot" viruses.
Malicious computer programs known as bots, short for robots, allow hackers to hijack thousands of far-flung computers and control them remotely. Criminals can use the commandeered machines to disseminate spam, hawk fake goods, send "phishing" emails to steal bank and other personal information or bombard corporate Web sites with Internet traffic to extract extortion payments.
A federal grand jury in California Wednesday returned a 17-count indictment charging Jeanson James Ancheta with conspiracy to cause damage to a computer, accessing a computer to conduct fraud and money laundering, among other charges.
According to the indictment, Mr. Ancheta, of Downey, Calif., earned thousands of dollars by infecting computers and then renting out access to networks of as many as 10,000 machines at a time to people who wanted to launch Internet attacks and send spam. He also hijacked U.S. government machines at the weapons division of the Naval Warfare Center and an information-systems agency at the Defense Department, the indictment alleges.
Mr. Ancheta allegedly made an additional $58,000 by surreptitiously planting adware -- programs that show the computer user targeted advertisements and tracks their activity online -- on hijacked computers, receiving payments from advertising companies for each installation.
Wall Street Journal
Malicious computer programs known as bots, short for robots, allow hackers to hijack thousands of far-flung computers and control them remotely. Criminals can use the commandeered machines to disseminate spam, hawk fake goods, send "phishing" emails to steal bank and other personal information or bombard corporate Web sites with Internet traffic to extract extortion payments.
A federal grand jury in California Wednesday returned a 17-count indictment charging Jeanson James Ancheta with conspiracy to cause damage to a computer, accessing a computer to conduct fraud and money laundering, among other charges.
According to the indictment, Mr. Ancheta, of Downey, Calif., earned thousands of dollars by infecting computers and then renting out access to networks of as many as 10,000 machines at a time to people who wanted to launch Internet attacks and send spam. He also hijacked U.S. government machines at the weapons division of the Naval Warfare Center and an information-systems agency at the Defense Department, the indictment alleges.
Mr. Ancheta allegedly made an additional $58,000 by surreptitiously planting adware -- programs that show the computer user targeted advertisements and tracks their activity online -- on hijacked computers, receiving payments from advertising companies for each installation.
Wall Street Journal
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