February 27, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Seventeen suspects were recently arrested in Quebec, Canada for turning thousands of computers into zombie machines and causing an estimated $45 million of damage in other countries. The computer hackers ranged in age from 17 to 26 and included three minors.
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Local police say that the hackers used software and other techniques to infect thousands of computers around the world, which were managed remotely via the Internet, to turn them into zombies and rent out to third parties for malicious activities. Police believe the affected computers have been involved in a number of attacks on websites, daft theft, identity theft and other online crimes since 2006.
The suspects face charges of illegally using a computer to commit crimes and the possession of passwords used to commit an offence. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Other charges may follow once the computers seized in the raid have been analyzed, say the police.
According to reports, approximately 39,059 computers were infected in Poland, 28,458 computers in Brazil, 26,169 computers in Mexico, 9,431 computers in Argentina, 8,510 computers in Germany and at least 3,383 computers in Canada.
Security vendor Sophos says that although a majority of the compromised machines in this scenario were probably personal PCs, larger corporations should use this as a wake-up call and look into investing in more ways to protect themselves.
