U.S. federal law enforcement authorities working in cooperation with their counterparts in more than 10 countries have disrupted the operations of two gangs responsible for distributing malicious scareware programs to more than 1 million people.
Two Latvian citizens have been indicted and more than 40 computers as well as several bank accounts have been seized so far in connection with the ongoing operation dubbed Operation Trident Tribunal.
The two individuals face up to 20 years in prison if they are convicted on all charges.
Scareware products are malicious software programs that pose as legitimate security software. The programs are installed without permission on end user systems and are used to serve up a never ending barrage of alerts warning users about non-existent threats on their systems and urging them to buy fake anti-malware products to resolve the issues.
