Security Consultant Creates 250,000 Computer Botnet to Steal PayPal Passwords

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Security Consultant Creates 250,000 Computer Botnet to Steal PayPal Passwords

11-11-2007, 11:11 AM,

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mandy Offline

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Security Consultant Creates 250,000 Computer Botnet to Steal PayPal Passwords

Quote:A Los Angeles man entrusted with making personal computers safer has admitted to hacking into them to create a rogue network of as many as a quarter-million PCs, which he used to steal money and identities.

Federal prosecutors Friday said that John Kenneth Schiefer, a 26-year-old computer security consultant, used an army of hijacked computers, known as a "botnet," to carry out a variety of schemes to rip off unsuspecting consumers and corporations.

Schiefer agreed to plead guilty to four felony charges in connection with the case and faces up to 60 years in prison and a $1.75-million fine, according to court documents filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles...

By intercepting electronic communications, Schiefer stole user names and passwords for EBay Inc.'s PayPal online payment service to make unauthorized purchases. He also passed the stolen account information on to others....

full article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bo...y?ctrack=1&cset=true

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