The thefts came to light when just
one US computer was seized in the US. It contained personal details
from 2,300 computers in the UK. Amongst the details were credit
card numbers, email addresses, passwords and details of
transactions conducted online.
The Met is now trying to identify and contact everyone affected
by the scam. "The information has been harvested from the
computers by a type of malicious code known as a back door," said a
statement from the Met's Computer Crime Unit.
"It is too early to establish at this early stage how the
computers have been infected. However, there are thousands of
computer users worldwide who have had their computers compromised
and data stolen," said the statement.
The Met has emailed everyone whose data has been stolen, but is
said to be worried because some users clearly think that the emails
are a hoax. The force is urging people to get in touch with the Met
if they have received one of the emails.
Home computer crime is a growing problem. A recent report from
anti-virus firm Symantec claimed that hackers and online criminals
are increasingly turning their attention away from well-protected
corporate networks and towards less secure home computers. The
company estimates that 86% of attacks are aimed at home
computers.
A just-finished BBC experiment has found that home computers are
attacked as much as 50 times in one night. The BBC set up a 'honey
trap' test PC and logged the attacks by hackers that it
suffered.
It found that a home PC suffers at least an attack an hour, one
of which was an attempt to take control of a computer and turn it
into a 'zombie pc'.
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