SCI/TECH: Police Nab Creator of Webcam Trojan, page 1

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:05 PM

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Spanish police have arrested a 37 year-old man who is suspected of creating a trojan horse that turns webcams into spycams and enables the hacker to install keystroke loggers on infected computers. It has been suggested that the program is so sophisticated that anti-virus software companies cannot detect it. The software companies say that there is too little information about the trojan and the arrest at this time to determine whether or not the trojan can be detected. The police say they they have mountains of evidence against the man.

story.news.yahoo.com
Spanish police have arrested a man suspected of creating a Trojan horse software program capable of making secret recordings of Internet users through their Webcams and stealing confidential information.

The 37-year-old suspect is a computer programmer from Madrid identified by the initials J.A.S. Spanish Civil Guard units caught the man spying on various Net users through their Webcams when they surprised him in his home this week during an operation dubbed "Tic-Tac," they say.

The man is alleged to have created a Trojan horse program distributed through peer-to-peer file sharing networks, like Kazaa. The Trojan horse can be hidden in a file for a picture or song, and once downloaded gives the hacker remote access to the victim's computer.

The hacker can install a keystroke logger that records confidential information such as banking passwords, as well as accessing personal photos and other sensitive information stored on computers. What's more, it gives the hacker the ability to operate a Webcam connected to the computer, and to view and record anything in the camera's field of vision.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

When I first heard about this trojan, I was just glad that I never wander about the living area of my apartment nude and that even if I did, no one in the world would be interested. I'm also glad I don't use file sharing software, that my webcam has a very noticeable red light that signals when it is active, and that I never keep sensitive information on my computer.

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MemoryShock

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:11 PM

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Whoa, makes me wonder about the "backdoors" potentially written in any and all computer programs, not just the inklings of a wayward techophile.

Flange Gasket

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:28 PM

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All the more reason to turn off File and Printer Sharing in the networking section of your PC unless your on a LAN...

thematrix

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:32 PM

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This is one of the reasons why I have my webcam pointed to the wall when I'm not using it

Djarums

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:34 PM

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There is absolutely no reason why anyone running a single computer at home should EVER have that on. If you're running a network with a bunch of machines on it, and say you're sharing a printer for all of them, or even a shared folder, fine I understand. But so many people who just don't know better have file sharing on from the computer in their den for no apparent reason. You're leaving yourself wide open for nothing.

As for his file itself, it's kind of difficult to embed a trojan into a music or picture file itself for example a jpg or mp3. What is more likely and quite common actually is that the guy shared files on kazaa like "blahblah.mp3.exe" or blahblah.jpg.scr" for example. Making it confusing for the lay user. Of course here user care will be the only way to get around such things. It's been going on for a while now.

I'm still not an advocate of things like Kazaa. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If it seems so fantastic like you're getting all this free stuff, chances are you'll find unpleasantries like this, or spyware all over the place there. Gotta be careful.

Kriz_4

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 03:55 PM

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It has taken them a long time to get one particular person creating this kind of program. I have been aware of this "software" for many years.

Many programs written, usually, by kids have been avaliable for chat and messagers such as Yahoo for a LONG time. The programs used to view webcams in chat such as Yahoo do not even need a trojan to be installed.

Like others have said, be careful.

Flange Gasket

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 04:06 PM

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Theres so much junk that runs in windows that hardly anyone ever uses and just provides backdoors for trojans,etc. "features" such as DCOM, MS Message Server and the plug and play manager all open the door for system exploits.

Anyone for Linux ?...

IronDogg

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 04:07 PM

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Where does one turn "file sharing" off within Windows XP? I want to make sure that I don't have it on unintentionally...

metalmessiah

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 04:33 PM

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Djarums, its actually very simple to embed a virus into a file. there are tons of websites that offer free downloads of programs(i think wrapster was one) designed for just that. with the small file size of trojans its basically impossible to tell if a fille is infected.

Linux

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 07:17 PM

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Originally posted by Flange Gasket
Theres so much junk that runs in windows that hardly anyone ever uses and just provides backdoors for trojans,etc. "features" such as DCOM, MS Message Server and the plug and play manager all open the door for system exploits.

Thats because those features are not needed by Windows XP, usually only 2003 Servers take advantage of all the services Windows offers. If your part of a domain some of those features are critical, I cannot stress that enough. Windows Messenger may be a piece of junk on a standalone PC but on a domain its crucial in some cases.