Chinese hackers wake up to malware

Criminal switch from copycats into malware authors

Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 16 Mar 2007

Security researchers are noticing an increase in malware originating from China, which is adding to the challenge of investigating online threats.

"The past three to four months have seen a slow increase in Chinese malware. It used to be the odd file every now and then, but it is now almost every day," Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Communications, told vnunet.com.

China has traditionally been a hotbed of password stealers who go after log-in names and passwords for online games such as World of Warcraft. The criminals are after virtual currencies and goods which can be sold on auction websites.

But FaceTime is reporting a new trend of Chinese criminals developing their own file downloaders and rootkits.

This malware can be used to control botnets, install adware and evade detection by security software. Just like in other parts of the world, money is the big driver.

"They are starting to realise that you can make silly amounts of money from installing malware," said Boyd.

Roger Thompson, chief technology officer at Exploit Prevention Labs, agreed with Boyd's observations.

The company reported an increase in Chinese malware activity in January, when a group of Chinese attackers hacked into the Superbowl website. The same group has been linked to a series of other online attacks.

Most of the zero-day vulnerabilities in Word and Excel that have emerged over the past months are also linked to Chinese hackers, according to Thompson.

"I always thought that the face of the new generation of hackers would be Chinese. There is just so many of them, and they are an emerging technology power," he told vnunet.com.

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