:: Deepquest ::

This latest manifestation of cyber crime is troubling and technically very advanced. The American Association for the Advancement of Science warned that bot herders are attempting to automate identity theft, pilfer bank accounts on a mass scale, and attack Web sites with wave after wave of clicks generated by zombie PCs.

A worldwide group of criminals has infiltrated the Internet in recent years. Using computer automation, they find unprotected personal computers and zap them with software that turns infected PCs into law-breaking zombies — without their owners’ being aware.
Security officials in industry and government have dealt with hackers, viruses and similar aggravations for decades. But what makes this wave of computer break-ins so alarming, they say, is its scope, sophistication and criminal intent. In this social network of crime, errant programmers brazenly sell the Internet equivalent of burglars’ tool kits while rogue network administrators create gangs of software-drugged, sleep-walking PCs.

“We have identified over 1 million compromised computers as part of a larger investigation,” said Shawn Henry, deputy director of an FBI Cyber Crime task force that recently busted three of these alleged cyber bad guys.

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