Be careful about what you download, ladies.
Your computer is the perfect spying device. Tech-savvy voyeurs can turn computers against their users, allowing a hijacker to see a user through a webcam, hear them through the computer’s microphone, and see what goes on on their screens. That’s what 32-year-old Luis Mijangos did to over 100 computers, allowing him to read his victims’ email, steal financial information, overhear private conversations, and obtain nude photos of them. As you might expect from a 32-year-old male, the majority of his victims were female.
How’d he get this kind of access to their computers? By tricking them into downloading spyware. According to the Department of Justice, Mijangos “induced victims to download the malware onto their computers by making the files appear to be popular songs or videos. After the victims downloaded the malware, Mijangos was able to control their computers, allowing him to send instant messages containing malware from those computers to other people in the victims’ address books. These later victims thought they were receiving messages from friends or family members.”
As the X-Files Agent Mulder would say, trust no one. Or at the very least, evince a little skepticism if you get a downloadable file from someone who doesn’t usually send you downloads.
(Oh, and if you buy a stolen used computer, be aware that laptop recovery software installed on it may allow for the same kind of hijacking — which can be just as embarrassing even if it is well-intentioned, as in the case of Susan Clements-Jeffrey.)
On dark places around the Internet, hackers exchange tips on how to turn people into “cyber slaves” by getting them to download spyware. On one forum I looked at, a hacker suggested bundling the spyware in a promised nude photo of Justin Bieber. Another hacker responded to say that might garner too young a victim, suggesting the Jonas Brothers as better bait. Many of these perps delight in the psychological games they can play with their victims given the intimate material they can get their hands on. After getting nude photos of one of his victims, Mijangos pressed her to provide him with more sexual material. When she told a friend about the “sextortion” (a message he saw on her computer), he retaliated by posting the nude photos to her MySpace page.
After pleading guilty to computer hacking and wiretapping, Mijangos — an illegal immigrant who resides in California — was sentenced to six years in federal prison. The FBI is using the case as a warning to Internet users everywhere not to send nude photos of themselves electronically. “[I]t’s my hope that this sentence serves as a warning for victims of Internet predators to advise law enforcement or a trusted source when threatened, and always refrain from sending compromising photographs via cyberspace,” said Steven M. Martinez, an FBI assistant director in L.A., in a DOJ press release.
An additional piece of advice: you may want to refrain from nude computing, just in case someone has gotten control of your webcam.
Other links you may like:
Hackers Attack Celebrities: http://www.youtube.com/no1hacker#p/u/1/t0Jyf3cWqoA, LocatePC, Fake Text Messages go to SPOOFEM.COM, LIGATT Security, Hacker Gear OnlineStolen Computer Alert
Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/09/02/creepster-of-the-weekwebcam-hijacker-gets-six-year-sentence/?feed=rss_home
View full post on National Cyber Security » Spyware/ Cyber Snooping
