China Jails Trojan Virus Authors in Cybercrime Crackdown

A Chinese court Wednesday sentenced 11 members of a malware ring for writing and distributing Trojan horse viruses meant to steal online game account passwords, according to state media.

The people, who stole login information for more than 5 million game accounts, were given prison sentences of up to three years and were fined a total of 830,000 Chinese yuan (US$120,000), China's Xinhua news agency said. Dozens of other members of the ring, which is suspected of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) in crime, are expected to be sentenced soon, Xinhua said.

Reports of arrests and court sentences for cybercriminals have become increasingly common in China after the country has strengthened its laws governing the activity. The government action has come in response to increasing signs of organization among cybercriminals, including division of the labor needed to design, distribute and profit from information-stealing malware. pcworld