The Spanish Civil Guard has busted a 37-year-old Madrid man on charges that he wrote a Trojan horse program to snatch confidential banking information and make secret video recordings of Netizens through their Webcams.
The SCG said announcing the arrest that the case has been under investigation since last July, after an Alicante man reported his suspicious-acting computer to authorities.
"Viruses and Trojan horses are not harmless pranks; they cause real harm disrupting business and personal communications as well as often destroying and stealing sensitive data," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for antivirus and Internet security company Sophos, in a statement about the case.
The Trojan’s name has yet to be revealed, but the SCG said it appeared to be written for transmission through peer-to-peer networks and to allow a hacker to steal bank passwords, personal documents, and photographs, and to let the hacker activate the victim computer’s Webcam at will.
Cluley said Webcam abuse is a lot more possible than people think because many computer users keep their machines in their bedrooms and don’t have defenses as strong as they might be on those machines already, never mind regarding Webcams.
"Computer crime authorities around the world are better equipped than ever than ever at hunting down the perpetrators of hacking and virus crimes,” he said. “Those responsible for creating malicious code should be asking themselves whether it's really worth taking the risk."
