Online fraudsters target UK users

More than 100,000 people in the UK have been targeted by a virus designed to steal sensitive information from computer users.

The outbreak was considered serious enough for the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) to issue a warning last week.

Criminals, believed to be operating out of North America and China, send emails containing an invoice claiming recipients have purchased electronic goods.

When users click through to the fake billing information website, a 'trojan' virus is downloaded, containing malicious code that records keystrokes, allowing fraudsters to access secret passwords and PINs when victims next visit secure web sites.

'It could capture information from all sorts of sites such as online trading and ecommerce,' said a spokesman for Abbey.

Police and banks have warned internet users to update Internet Explorer security patches and firewalls.

'The criminals behind these attacks are constantly evolving their techniques and changing tactics to target a wider range of victims,' said detective chief superintendent Len Hynds, head of the NHTCU.

UK payments association APACS is working with the NHTCU to track down the criminals, and warns that so-called 'phishing' attacks have cost the online banking industry £4.5m since December.

'These attacks are becoming more sophisticated and people need to protect themselves with the latest patches and firewalls,' said an APACS spokeswoman.

'You wouldn't open your front door to a stranger and the same should apply online,' she said.

The latest attack has advanced the sophistication of phishing and could damage consumer trust in ecommerce, says the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG).

'It's becoming a multi-stage process and more advanced than previous attempts where criminals just sent emails pretending to be banks,' said Dave Brunswick, APWG's European spokesman and technical director at Tumbleweed.

'It's chipping away at the trust people have in online banking transactions.'