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Cybercriminals are getting nailed all around the world. Stories from Viruslist.com.

Spammer Handed Huge Fine By Australian Judge Last week an Australian spammer and his company were fined more than US $4.2 million for sending out millions of unsolicited emails. Wayne Robert Mansfield, from Perth in Western Australia, was given a personal fine of more than $750,000, while his company will have to pay out nearly $3.5 million. The federal judge who presided in the case called spam annoying, costly to fight and a threat. Australia has had anti-spam laws in force since 2004, but this is the first successful prosecution that led to a financial penalty. Wayne Mansfield’s marketing company, Clarity 1, sent out an estimated 280 million junk messages between 2004 and 2006, of which as many as 74 million were actually delivered into people’s inboxes. Judge Robert Nicholson, who found Clarity 1 and its director guilty of contravening Australia’s anti-spam legislation, claimed in his deliberation that spamming actually constituted a “threat to the functionality of the Internet”. He also stated that junk emails were a source of annoyance and, more importantly, caused direct financial losses to users, who, for instance, have to purchase blocking software. Indirect losses are also caused by the time taken to deal with unsolicited email. Australian anti-spam campaigners are extremely pleased by the substantial fine, but have warned that it will not put a total end to spam. According to figures, most of the spam received in the country comes from abroad, which means Clarity 1’s spamming campaign was actually a drop in the ocean for Australian users. However, it is clear that a strong message directed at spammers in the country is a welcome outcome, as it represents a starting point in the real fight against the problem. And at least one spammer in Australia will not be able to conduct business any more, as Clarity 1 has been banned from sending out junk mail in the future.

Zotob Authors Jailed The authors of the now infamous Zotob worm have been jailed in Morocco, more than a year after they were apprehended in August 2005. The worm gained global prominence after it affected several news agencies and high-profile media outlets such as CNN and The New York Times. Two men believed to be the authors of Zotob, Farid Essebar and Achraf Bahloul, were detained in Morocco just weeks after the release of the worm into the wild. Essebar, who used the nickname “Diabl0”, which was found in the worm code, was also believed to be responsible for the release of many other pieces of malware. According to a press release by the FBI, the Moroccan court convicted the 19-year old Essebar and 20-year old Bahloul on charges of conspiracy and illegal access to computer systems among others. Essebar received a sentence of two years, while Bahloul will spend a year in jail. A third man, named by the FBI as Atilla Ekici, was also arrested in Turkey at the same time last year, and is facing charges of financing the Zotob attack. All three are also believed to have been involved in a wider cybercriminal ring that stole credit cards and committed online fraud. It is thought that both men jailed in Morocco are lodging appeals against their convictions. The FBI has praised the Moroccan authorities for their role in bringing both Essebar and Bahloul to justice. Other parties involved in the investigation were the Turkish National Police and Microsoft, highlighting the global nature of modern cybercrime.

Cyberfraudsters Detained In Spain A large group involved in cybercrime and online fraud has been dismantled in Spain by the National Police last week. The authorities detained a total of 23 people all across the country, particularly in coastal regions of Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia. According to the Spanish police, those detained were of seven different nationalities, including Spaniards, Italians, a Latvian, a Russian, a Ukrainian, a Panamanian and an Uruguayan citizen. The group used a Trojan to steal personal banking data from unsuspecting users in Spain and then to move the money outside the country to Eastern Europe. In total it is believed the criminal gang stole more than 2 million Euros from online bank and online shop users. They used a keylogging Trojan called Anserin.C (Troj/Torpig-k, Trojan-PSW.Win32.Agent.bu) to steal login details and passwords. Funds would be siphoned off into intermediary accounts in Spain and then sent to Russia and the Ukraine via money transfer services by so-called money mules. Police in Spain have said their investigation has lasted since July this year, when members of the public began to lodge official complaints. It is believed the group may have stolen even more funds from users outside Spain via the same mechanism. Of the 23 people detained at least 19 are believed to have acted as money mules, and the rest used their technological expertise to carry out the actual thefts. In the past year Spain has become a hotbed for cybercrime, particularly that involved with phishing and cyberfraud. Users in the country have been warned by the authorities to keep their private financial details safe, update their antivirus programs and be extremely vigilant when online. An additional warning has been made about fraudulent job offers that come in spam emails, and which are used as cover to recruit money mules for money laundering purposes.

Major Hacking Crew Taken Down In South America Chilean police have reported on a significant success in their fight against cybercrime this week. Chile’s special cybercrime unit said it dismantled a major hacking conglomerate, with four arrests made on Monday. The crew, named by sources in the country as the “Byond Hackers Team”, is known to be one of the most prolific in the world, with more than 8,000 website hacks to its name. The arrests were carried out following a long investigation that started in March this year. Two men were apprehended at their homes, while the other two underage members of the group voluntarily came to the police accompanied by their parents. The Chilean hacking group became known across the world in 2005, when it engaged in a virtual shoot-out with their counterparts in Peru. The cyber-conflict between two groups of “patriotic” hackers led to government websites of both countries being broken into. Sources in Chile claim they wielded a constant war not only with their colleagues from Peru, but also neighbouring Argentina. It is believed a 23-year-old engineering student and a 37-year-old programmer led the gang and were well known by their nicks: “Nettoxic” and “SSH-2”. Apart from the conflict with Peru they were famous for hacking the NASA website, as well as government sites in their own country, the US, Israel and many other South American states. The 8-month investigation mostly centred on the leader of the group, who was identified by his place of study. Gerardo Raventos, who led the investigative team in Chile, revealed that the operation was a truly international effort: assistance was received from Interpol, the US, Israel, Turkey and several South American countries. Leonardo Hernandez, 23, known as “Nettoxic”, who was the first to be arrested, revealed to Chilean media that he only carried out his attacks for fun and did not engage in cyberfraud or steal any money through his online activities. In spite of this, he could face up to five years in jail for hacking into websites and illegally accessing private information. The two adults in the group have already been charged with cyber-sabotage and remanded in custody for a period of 90 days, while their two teenage accomplices were temporarily freed. According to some sources, the group used hacking as a form of political protest, placing anti-war and social justice messages on hacked websites.