MS. - Scareware Indictments Put Cybercriminals on Notice

[JMH]

Today the FBI announced federal indictments returned against three culprits charged with disseminating a major malware scheme believed to have caused $100 million in losses to victims worldwide. The scheme revolved around a form of malware called “scareware,” which falsely persuades consumers that they need to purchase useless and expensive software to protect their computers. Microsoft is proud to have supported the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice in these cases, which send a clear and important message to cyber-criminals that they will be caught and brought to justice.

The scheme in these indictments was global, complex and sophisticated. The scareware went by various names, including WinFixer – meant to mislead consumers into associating the bogus software with trusted Microsoft products. At one time, WinFixer and its variants are thought to have been responsible for 75 percent of scareware worldwide.

Two of the three defendants indicted in this case are non-U.S. residents, accused of working with an Ohio resident to perpetrate the scheme. This illustrates how cybercrime has become global. Boundaries and jurisdictions are irrelevant to cyber-criminals. The problem can’t be tackled by any single entity working alone; strong cooperation is needed among governments, law enforcement and technology companies.

Source
Scareware Indictments Put Cybercriminals on Notice - Microsoft On The Issues

 

[Lee]

This class of criminals need to be put into a prison built around the turn of the century (1800) where there is no form of technology, including personal toilets. :mad2:

 

[CarlTR6]

I hope they are convicted. Devil's Island would be too good for them.

 

[MattRainier]

This class of criminals need to be put into a prison built around the turn of the century (1800) where there is no form of technology, including personal toilets. :mad2:

Actually, in my house we have a very...unique idea for punishing them. Send them around to the houses of everyone who they hit with this scheme, and give those people one shot - just one! - at the person with a baseball bat or some other blunt device. One rule only - you're just not allowed to kill 'em. No stealing all the fun for yourself.

We came up with that after a virus took down our old XP machine.

 

[bludgard69]

Shutter Island. Knowledge is our best defense.We're taught to fear.Big profit margin.

 

[Layback Bear]

I understand that England has some old 1500 castles with dungeons that will work well for proper treatment of such people. I bet they would donate them.
The good part is that M/S is working with governments and other security companies to get the job done. With M/S money, people and knowledge is got to be a good thing.

 

[Abhishek Ghosh]

They showed "Your Win XP might be infected " ; When I was using Win 7 beta.

It is funny for us, but, really I think, not so techy person often clicks them.

The websites those with such ads also should be warned.

Anyone can check about " how safe is the website " from Norton's Safe web website . There should be strict implementation about website security.
SSL certificates are costly, its nearly impossible to buy and bear the recurrent cost of such certificate for small websites, forums etc. There should be an free but effective alternative for these.

SevenForums is Safe (Obviously) according to Norton: