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SEVEN MEN HAVE been charged with running a ‘clickjacking’ scam that made them an alleged €10million in profits, after infecting four million computers in 100 countries.
The scheme worked by diverting users looking for iTunes and other popular sites, and taking them to fake web pages. The defendants then collected advertising revenue for the diverted traffic, according to an FBI indictment filed in New York yesterday.
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Wired reports that computers across the world were infected by the malware that the scam relied upon, known as DNSChanger, including machines belonging to NASA and other government agencies.
This altered the DNS settings on the computers involved – including both PCs and Macs – so that their web browsers could be redirected.
Six Estonian men were arrested earlier this week, the Guardian reports, while a Russian man has also been charged but not yet apprehended. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and computer intrusion.
The arrests come as the result of a two-year FBI investigation known as Operation Ghost Click, according to Forbes, which adds that the scam began in 2007.
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“A MAN WAS arrested yesterday after being held by staff of a shop which he had robbed.
The incident occurred on the Old Swords Road in Santry earlier today.” The guards are getting good if they can predict the crime before it even happens!!
@Joe Conlon: see it happened yesterday but the guards didn’t show up til today. That’s where the timeline is getting mixed up. The staff and people organised shift changes to hold him for the 24 hours that it took for the guards to arrive.
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