Pinch pinched

Date: 20 December 2007 Original URL: http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?cid=7066&it=8545 Greetings, It seems sometimes the bad guys do get caught. The makers of a rather nasty little trojan known as 'Pinch' have apparently been arrested and are expected to be facing court in the not too distant future. Pinch wasn't just used to steal credentials and information from infected users - it was used itself as a product for sale. For just a few dollars you could get a custom version for your very own nefarious purposes, and technical support was available. The number of Pinch variants floating around is quite astounding - over four thousand at some estimates - so this seemed to be quite a lucrative business model. Unfortunately the arrest of Pinch's creators will not mean Pinch is off the net - its source code is available, so customised versions are still possible, albeit without the customer support. Have a happy christmas everyone - hopefully you've got a little time off. Regards, MDB