Privacy, Security & Virus Information

First Arrests Reported in Zeus Hacking Scam

The good news from the anti-virus industry is that a first wave of arrests has been carried out throughout the World of some of the hundreds of hackers behind the spread of the Zeus malware package.

The first details of the arrests were leaked last week along with information of how Zeus has succeeded in not only spreading but also re-inventing itself almost at every opportunity.

Zeus, in its many formats has been reported as being in use since 2007, making it probably the most widely distributed virus of all time, and certainly the longest surviving.

However the shocking news is that, what the anti-virus software industry only suspected till now has been confirmed. That Zeus is a program in all meaning of the word and has been sold throughout the World to hackers who then tweak it and adapt it to their specifications before unleashing it. Even more shocking is that it appears that a boxed version of Zeus can be bought for a little or as much as £1000 and comes complete with a customer back up service and even updates.

Industry experts fear that although these arrests are significant, they may only be the tip of the iceberg as far as the organisation that created and distributed Zeus over the last years. Reports have it that the hackers currently under lock and key are low level players in the hacker ring, mostly involved in distribution and similar low level operations. Whether the trail will lead the authorities to those at the top of the pyramid remains to be seen. What is known is that those arrested are part of a ring allegedly responsible for stealing more than £6.5 million from their victims, mostly small businesses.

While the news of a breakthrough in the ware to stem the tide of malware fraud is comforting, computer owners and user have absolutely no reason to breathe too deep a sigh of relief. The Zeus threat, and many other like it, are still around and will probably be forever. The people behind malware are organised master criminals and the only way that information can be protected is by installing the most powerful and professional anti-virus program available on the market today. The cyber hacker never rests, and while these arrests may mean that a few hundred have been put out of circulation for a while, the chances are that their places have been filled already in this high profitable but illegal and deplorable industry.

 

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