Fergie's Tech Blog

Web Scammer Targets Senior U.S. Executives

Christopher Rhoads writes in The Wall Street Journal:

For months, a sophisticated hacker has been stealing the personal data of American corporate executives.

Hot on the hacker's trail is Joe Stewart. The former bass-guitarist-turned-cyber-sleuth stumbled onto the case in February. Since then, the 36-year-old Mr. Stewart has spent weeks in his office, in a nondescript building next to a half-abandoned strip mall here, virtually chasing the mysterious perpetrator across several continents. Mr. Stewart early on thought he had traced the scammer to China, then realized it was a false lead. Only when the perpetrator stumbled did Mr. Stewart get a break in the case.

Mr. Stewart, a top researcher for Atlanta-based Internet security firm SecureWorks Inc., says most of the scammed executives declined requests to discuss their experience. He says they include senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, working in industries from airlines and banks to manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. The number of those affected is likely in the thousands. In May, Mr. Stewart, who works closely with law enforcement, says he found one cache of data stolen by the scam from more than 1,400 executives.

posted by Fergie @ 11/09/2007 11:07:00 AM