The sheer number of malware attacks conducted on a daily basis, and the tricks that can be used to hide your tracks on the internet, may make it appear as though the authorities have little chance of bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The truth is, however, that although investigations can take many years and cross many countries, some cybercriminals are being brought to justice.
Today, Detective Constable Bob Burls of the UK’s Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) and F-Secure’s Mikko Hyppönen took centre stage at the Virus Bulletin conference in Barcelona to describe how the computer-crime fighting authorities and anti-virus industry worked together on one such investigation.
“Operation Kennet” was the UK police’s codename for a probe into the m00p virus-writing group – a cybercrime gang that operated from 2004 until 2006, recruiting compromised computers into an IRC-controlled botnet.
The m00p gang’s malware really made the news headlines in 2006, when the Stinx Trojan…
Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.
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