Baltic SpyEye malware trio sent to prison

Convictions for malware-related cybercriminality are uncommon, notably because of the international jurisdictional complexities of investigating and prosecuting such offences.

Despite the challenges, however, the cops sometimes do get their man - or men.

We think it's worth reminding you when this happens.

So we were pleased to receive, over the weekend, a press release on just such a topic from the UK's Police Central e-crime Unit.

The PCeU, jointly funded by the Home Office and London's Metropolitan Police, is the UK's national investigative response team for cybercrime.

Here's what they had to say:

Two men who used malicious computer software to steal the personal banking details for unsuspecting victims have been sentenced to nine years for offences under the Computer Misuse Act, and for other crimes including making articles for use in fraud, possession of articles for use in fraud, and for offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The two men, Pavel Cyganok and Ilja Zakrevski, who hail from Lithunia and Estonia respectively, were pinched after PCeU investigators were alerted by their counterparts in the Estonian Police.

A third man, Aldis Krummins, who hails from Latvia, was sent down for two years for money-laundering crimes related to the malware attacks. (Once you've stolen money electronically, you still need to work it through the system to realised your ill-gotten gains.)

According to the PCeU, the crooks netted about £100,000 ($155,000) by using the SpyEye Trojan to help them break into online bank accounts.

They used the stolen money to fund and expand their criminal infrastructure, and to make online purchases of luxury items that they resold on auction sites.

With victims identified not just from the UK but also from Denmark, The Netherlands and New Zealand, the global nature of malware-related cybercrookery is obvious, so we all need to play our part.

As the police press release concludes:

The PCeU would like to remind the public that everyone can make it harder for cybercriminals by taking sensible precautions to protect personal data. Unprotected computers are more prone to infection and leave data exposed.

Source : http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/07/01/uk-cops-announce-sentencing-of-baltic-malware-trio/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nakedsecurity+%28Naked+Security+-+Sophos%29