with the arrest of two Greek hackers who created malicious software codenamed "Lecpetex" and infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, violating electronic systems through a social networking website.
In his statements, the head of the Cybercrime Prosecution Service, Manolis Sfakianakis, who accepted the congratulations of the Minister of Public Order, Vasilis Kikilias, said that this is the most important case that the Cybercrime Prosecution Service has ever handled, with serious implications for the global online computer system.
"We managed to prevent a significant threat to computer security, which caused major problems for millions of internet users around the world," he said.
The action of hackers
The two hackers sent users of the social networking site private messages, with the malware attached, which infected their computer when the users opened the specific file. The Lecpetex virus had the ability to spread itself, thus infecting all the contacts-friends of the initially infected user by automatically sending them similar malicious messages.
In this way, the number of infected computers expanded geometrically, making the virus one of the most serious threats worldwide in terms of malware.
Their goal was to use the computing power of hundreds of thousands of infected machines to mine virtual online money (bitcoin).
They also stole passwords for bitcoin wallets, which they transferred to wallets under their control.
They then converted the digital-virtual currencies into euros using the services of special electronic exchange offices available on the internet, ultimately collecting the illegal profits.
At the same time, they stole various passwords from emails and accounts of all kinds (e-banking, Paypal, etc.) and entered them into a database. A typical example is the theft of the password of an email address of the Ministry of Shipping, to the content of which the perpetrators gained access.
It is noted that a case has been filed against the two arrested persons for establishing and participating in a criminal organization-gang, computer fraud, violation of computer privacy, as well as violation of the legislation on the protection of personal data.
