China warns on rise in internet-related crime

China continues to struggle with criminal elements on the internet, but has enjoyed some success this year according to a report in the publication CIO Tuesday.

Government enforcement investigations and actions have resulted in the arrest of 15,000 criminals charged with hacking attacks, cyber fraud, and the promotion of gambling in 7,400 separate cases…and more enforcement activity is planned, say Ministry of Public Security officials.

In one of the cases investigated the individuals arrested are alleged to have taken control of a company’s website and filled its pages with online gambling content. Seven people were eventually arrested and traced to 2,000 website hacks.

In another case a  gang that sent SMS messages containing a malware link was exposed. If opened, the malware could be used to steal personal information, including bank card numbers, on the infected phone.

The SMS -malware modus operandi has been flagged as especially prevalent in recent times by China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team, which says that the “xxShenqi” malware was deployed by criminals to infect 110,000 phones across the nation last year.

China claims it has the largest global population of internet users at 668 million, and the Ministry of Public Security has warned that the risk of criminal activity rises with the growth of the internet and its users.

The Ministry has announced that this year alone it has investigated 66,000 websites and internet posts in its campaign against what it terms “offensive and harmful” content, a definition that embraces firearm-related violence, pornography and gambling.

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