Professor warns of virus blackmail

Press, 31 January 1989, Page 26

Professor warns of virus blackmail

By

TONY VERDON

in London The threat of infection by computer viruses is being used to blackmail large companies for huge ransoms, a leading British computer security expert believes. Viruses (very small programs constructed to destroy data) can be slipped on to computer disks of a company or sent down telephone lines connected to computers. Some viruses lie dormant before bursting into life when the host computer’s internal clock reaches a certain date. On Friday, January 13, a virus codenamed 1813 did precisely that on computers used by a number of companies and colleges in Britain. The 1813 virus, which will next come to life on Friday, October 13, is thought by experts to be the work of a computer enthusiast with a warped sense of humour. However, Professor Henry Beker, a mathematician and cryptologist at the Royal Holloway College, London, says that such viruses are now being used deliberately to blackmail leading companies. Companies would be telephoned and informed there was a viral "time-bomb” somewhere inside computer systems. The blackmailers would then say: "Unless you pay up, we won’t tell you how to deal with it.” “I have heard figures of several

hundred thousand pounds being demanded,” Professor Beker told “The Times.” Many cases were never reported to police because companies did not want to admit how vulnerable their systems were. Increasing awareness about how easy it was to hack into a system and the fraudulent uses to which data could be put had meant that computer-based fraud was reaching epidemic proportions, costing billions of pounds a year worldwide, says Professor Beker. The average loss from computer fraud in Britain had increased 12 times, from SNZB6.BOO in 1983 to just over SIM in 1988. Meanwhile, the number of frauds detected had doubled. “You can even buy programs to hack for you. The average hacker can get into any system simply by guessing passwords,” says Professor Beker. Companies which thought they may be at risk from viruses could call in computer consultancies which had developed programs capable of tracing the viruses and killing them. “Vaccines,” software to prevent the invasion of a system by viruses, are also becoming available. Companies can also insure against both viruses and hacking. Those wanting cover had to open up their systems for inspection by anti-hacking experts.