[photopress:IT_hackers_skeleton.jpg,full,alignright]Confirming an earlier report four Chinese cyber criminals have been sentenced to between six and eight years each for grand larceny, after stealing more than RMB100,000 from internet bank accounts.
Representative Chen Wanzhi of the National People’s Congress called for greater state control over the hacker economy.
He said, ‘Our country has already formed a division of labor in the underground internet industrial chain. Some medium- and small-sized firms have even had to pay protection money to insure their e-commerce.’
Statistics from the Chinese Computer Emergency Response Team show that the country was hit by 21 times more Trojan viruses in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006.
And security vendor Sophos says more than half the world’s malware is hosted on web sites in China.
The crackdown is legitimate and not just for show, according to Gartner analyst Peter Firstbrook.
He said, ‘China wants to stop people stealing money from its own banks, and is harsh on those who hack within China.’
Chenxi Wang, principal analyst at Forrester Research, said, ‘There is no well-defined law on digital activities and no consistent approach towards criminal activities online. The government can do whatever it wants in each situation.’
Source: UK What PC
You must log in to post a comment.