Online criminals banding together
The Straits Times, 20 March 2007
I just read another piece of rather disturbing news. According to the abovementioned news report, personal information such as verified credit card numbers can be purchased for as little as US$1! Complete personal data (date of birth, US bank account, government-issued identification numbers, and credit card details) might set you back a mere US$14. Access to someone else's online bank account would cost more at US$300 while a PayPal account would cost US$500. A Skype account costs US$12 an an acount for the World of Warcraft online role-playing game could be had for US$10. Bearing in mind that these costs are not to set up an account but to steal someone else's, its dumbfoundingly easy to get the necessary information to commit all manner of fraud!
Another alarming fact is that researchers at software security firm, Symantec, found a worldwide rise in "bot network activity". Bots are compromised computers controlled remotely and operating in concert to pump out spam or performing other nefarious acts - typically without the knowledge of their legitimate owners. The percentage of bot-infected computers rose by 29 percent from the previous 6 months, to more than 6 million computers.
My initial concern was how the soon to be enacted Spam Control Act would be used to deal with such software (afterall, how high is the risk of getting knicked for spam because someone, unbeknown to you, sends spam with your computer? And in addition, are there methods to trace the actual person who sent out the spam available in Singapore?). Of course in terms of the offence itself, the author of the spam would be chargeable under both the Singapore Computer Misuse Act (for unauthorised access) and the Singapore Spam Control Bill (for the actual spam itself - although this only attracts civil liability, unlike the unauthorised access).
The Straits Times, 20 March 2007
I just read another piece of rather disturbing news. According to the abovementioned news report, personal information such as verified credit card numbers can be purchased for as little as US$1! Complete personal data (date of birth, US bank account, government-issued identification numbers, and credit card details) might set you back a mere US$14. Access to someone else's online bank account would cost more at US$300 while a PayPal account would cost US$500. A Skype account costs US$12 an an acount for the World of Warcraft online role-playing game could be had for US$10. Bearing in mind that these costs are not to set up an account but to steal someone else's, its dumbfoundingly easy to get the necessary information to commit all manner of fraud!
Another alarming fact is that researchers at software security firm, Symantec, found a worldwide rise in "bot network activity". Bots are compromised computers controlled remotely and operating in concert to pump out spam or performing other nefarious acts - typically without the knowledge of their legitimate owners. The percentage of bot-infected computers rose by 29 percent from the previous 6 months, to more than 6 million computers.
My initial concern was how the soon to be enacted Spam Control Act would be used to deal with such software (afterall, how high is the risk of getting knicked for spam because someone, unbeknown to you, sends spam with your computer? And in addition, are there methods to trace the actual person who sent out the spam available in Singapore?). Of course in terms of the offence itself, the author of the spam would be chargeable under both the Singapore Computer Misuse Act (for unauthorised access) and the Singapore Spam Control Bill (for the actual spam itself - although this only attracts civil liability, unlike the unauthorised access).
posted by Clem | 1:09 PM
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