He goes by the nickname A-Z and is one of Russia's bright young tech stars. He's a crack programmer, successful entrepreneur and creator of sophisticated software tools that help his customers make millions.

Trouble is, A-Z's masterstroke is a computer program called ZeuS that helps cybergangs steal people's identity data and pull off Web scams on a vast scale. Last fall, German criminals used ZeuS to pull off an Ocean's Eleven-like caper, hijacking $6 million from banks in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Italy, says SecureWorks, an Atlanta-based company that monitors Internet crime and supplies security systems for 2,100 companies and government agencies.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 09:54

Consumer Reports Survey: U.S. Consumers Lost Nearly $8.5 Billion to Online Threats

September issue features latest ratings of security software

The risks associated with using the Internet remain high, yet many consumers are still complacent about online security according to the latest survey from Consumer Reports. U.S. consumers lost almost $8.5 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes according to projections from the magazine's annual State of the Net survey featured in the September issue. Additionally, Consumer Reports estimates that American consumers have replaced about 2.1 million computers over the past two years because of online threats.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 07:51