Major cybercrime rings in Kuwait, Algeria disrupted

Major cybercrime rings in Kuwait, Algeria disrupted: Boston: Microsoft Corp launched what it hopes will be the most successful private effort to date to crack down on cyber crime by moving to disrupt communications channels between hackers and infected PCs.

The operation, which began on Monday under an order issued by a federal court in Nevada, targeted traffic involving malicious software known as Bladabindi and Jenxcus, which Microsoft said work in similar ways and were written and distributed by developers in Kuwait and Algeria.

It is the first high-profile case involving malware written by developers outside of Eastern Europe, according to Richard Domingues Boscovich, assistant general counsel of Microsoft’s cybercrime-fighting Digital Crimes Unit.
“We have never seen malware coded outside Eastern Europe that is as big as this. This really demonstrates the globalisation of cybercrime,” said Boscovich, whose team at Microsoft has disrupted nine other cybercrime operations over the past five years, all of which it believes originated in Eastern Europe.

He said it would take days to determine how many machines were infected, but noted that the number could be very large because Microsoft’s anti-virus software alone has detected some 7.4 million infections over the past year and is installed on less than 30 per cent of the world’s PCs.

The malware has dashboards with point-and-click menus to execute functions such as viewing a computer screen in real time, recording keystrokes, stealing passwords and listening to conversations, according to documents filed in US District Court in Nevada on June 19 and unsealed on Monday.

The malware was purchased by at least 500 customers.