An estimated 27,000 people have been affected by an identity theft ring that was discovered earlier this month, according to Sunbelt Software, the security company that uncovered the operation.
Eric Sites, the vice president of research and development at Sunbelt, said Wednesday that some of the Web servers involved in the operation are still operational and continuing to gather personal data from machines that have been infected with the malicious code responsible for the identity theft.
"Some of the Web servers have been shut down, and we are still working with the FBI to investigate others," Sites said. "Information is no longer being sent to the one (server) we initially reported on, but there are other variants of this (the malicious code) that send data to other Web sites--these are also being investigated by FBI."
The Secret Service is providing support to the FBI in this investigation, Sites said.
Sunbelt initially contacted individual people who had been affected by the identity theft ring, but Sites said it is no longer doing this as the company has "collected so much information that it is impossible to go through one by one."
Instead, Sunbelt has sent a list of account holders who have been affected to credit card providers Visa and MasterCard, as well as to online auction site eBay and its Internet payment system PayPal. It is currently working on sending a similar list to credit card providers Discover and American Express, and will send another list to eBay and PayPal, as it has since gathered more information on the people who have been affected, Sunbelt said.
Once this is completed, Sunbelt will send a list of account holders affected to various banks. The customers of more than 50 banks have been affected by this identity theft ring, said Sunbelt in an earlier interview.
Companies and individuals can protect themselves against the keystroke logger involved in this identity theft ring by downloading a free tool from the Sunbelt Web site.
Why does the public subject themselves to this? Are you masochists? Linux is immune from this nonsense. It's even EASIER to install than Windows. What's keeping you tied to Microsoft? Don't you know that life doesn't have to be this way?
Why is it that the Linux/Mac users seem to feel the need to post stuff like this? Do they have nothing better to do than to try to stir up flamewars of "my OS is better than your OS"?
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
Tommy Jordan, the man who shot his daughter's laptop for YouTube, gets a visit from police and child protection services. Oh, and Good Morning America.
As UC Berkeley students, the co-founders of "Back to the Roots" discovered they could grow mushrooms using recycled coffee grounds. Now their mushroom kit sells at grocery stores across the country.
For people who don't have time to tend a Zen garden, the Zen Table will handle the work for you. The table is filled with silicone beads and a robotic system that "rakes" images into the sand.
The Washington State Senate passed a bill that would charge electric car owners $100 per year to compensate for not paying gas taxes. The bill still has to pass the House.
