Arrested hacker teaches Internet users another hard lesson

Oct 13, 2003 12:00 PM

Every time an Internet user opens an e-mail from an unknown sender it is as if they are opening the front door of their house to a stranger, says U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, in response to a recent hacker arrest.

Officials charged Van Dinh, 19, of Phoenixville, Pa., in a scheme to dispose of worthless options by hacking into the account of a Massachusetts investor. Officials say Dinh was able to carry out the scheme after providing a purported "stock charting tool" to the investor that contained a "Trojan," or virus enabling a hacker to take control of another PC. The defendant used a 'Trojan horse' program to surreptitiously obtain the victim's investment account information.

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts filed charges of securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, and causing damage in connection with unauthorized access to a protected computer.

According to court documents, Dinh sent an e-mail in July 2003 inviting users of an online stock discussion forum to test a new stock-charting tool that was in fact a disguised version of a keystroke-logging program called "The Beast" allowing Dinh to monitor remotely the computer activity of users who had downloaded it.

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