Arrests pull plug on software gang
POLICE in Hubei Province have arrested two computer masterminds who made more than 2 million yuan (US$293,000) from software used by Chinese hackers.
Macheng City police said the high-tech crime ring they cracked was the first of its kind in China. They said they netted six suspects in six provinces who had never met each other before they were taken by police, the Global Times reported yesterday.
The two principal suspects are 20-year-old Yang and 22-year-old Han.
Police said Yang was the software writer and Han was in charge of the sales of "little rat," a Trojan horse widely used by Chinese hackers.
Another four unnamed suspects were seized for using the software to steal online bank accounts or passwords for online games that they could sell.
Huang Shaokui, vice police chief in Macheng, told CCTV that the six formed a sophisticated chain of business that could earn millions.
Blackmail
"With the software, anyone who can operate a computer can become a hacker," said Huang. "Those amateur hackers could also use affected computers to attack business computer users and blackmail them for money."
In October 2007, Internet cafe owner Zhao Shuting reported a message on his phone claiming responsibility for constant disconnections in his cafe. The problem could be solved, it said, if he made a payment of 8,000 yuan.
Police said the disconnections had also paralyzed the network of 45 companies in the same region.
The case led to the investigation of the whole hacker business related to the software "little rat" that was used to paralyze the network.
The investigation found the "little rat" affected more than 110,000 computers in a month, and all these computers were rendered liable to being controlled by hackers without the owners' knowledge.
Qi Xiangdong, president of a Chinese anti-virus company, said the hacker business was estimated to be worth some 10 billion yuan a year in China.
Shanghai police recently arrested two hackers who paralyzed the city's monthly online car-plate auction attempting to buy a license plate at the lowest possible price.
Macheng City police said the high-tech crime ring they cracked was the first of its kind in China. They said they netted six suspects in six provinces who had never met each other before they were taken by police, the Global Times reported yesterday.
The two principal suspects are 20-year-old Yang and 22-year-old Han.
Police said Yang was the software writer and Han was in charge of the sales of "little rat," a Trojan horse widely used by Chinese hackers.
Another four unnamed suspects were seized for using the software to steal online bank accounts or passwords for online games that they could sell.
Huang Shaokui, vice police chief in Macheng, told CCTV that the six formed a sophisticated chain of business that could earn millions.
Blackmail
"With the software, anyone who can operate a computer can become a hacker," said Huang. "Those amateur hackers could also use affected computers to attack business computer users and blackmail them for money."
In October 2007, Internet cafe owner Zhao Shuting reported a message on his phone claiming responsibility for constant disconnections in his cafe. The problem could be solved, it said, if he made a payment of 8,000 yuan.
Police said the disconnections had also paralyzed the network of 45 companies in the same region.
The case led to the investigation of the whole hacker business related to the software "little rat" that was used to paralyze the network.
The investigation found the "little rat" affected more than 110,000 computers in a month, and all these computers were rendered liable to being controlled by hackers without the owners' knowledge.
Qi Xiangdong, president of a Chinese anti-virus company, said the hacker business was estimated to be worth some 10 billion yuan a year in China.
Shanghai police recently arrested two hackers who paralyzed the city's monthly online car-plate auction attempting to buy a license plate at the lowest possible price.
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