:: Deepquest ::

Most people who use e-mail now know enough to be on guard against “phishing” messages that pretend to be from a legitimate business but are actually attempts to steal passwords and other personal data.

But there is evidence that among global cybercriminals, phishing may already be passe.

But there is evidence that among global cybercriminals, phishing may already be passe.

In some countries, like Brazil, it has been eclipsed by an even more virulent form of electronic con–the use of keylogging programs that silently copy the keystrokes of computer users and send that information to the crooks. These programs are often hidden inside other software and then infect the machine, putting them in the category of malicious programs known as Trojan horses, or just Trojans.

Two weeks ago, Brazilian federal police descended on the northern city of Campina Grande and several surrounding states, and arrested 55 people–at least 9 of them minors–for seeding the computers of unwitting Brazilians with keyloggers that recorded their typing whenever they visited their banks online. The tiny programs then sent the stolen user names and passwords back to members of the gang.

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