Just as the Fagins of 19th-century London ran their gangs of youthful pickpockets and the drug dealers of the 20th century hid behind teenage runners, today’s cybercriminals have also recruited young labour.

When cybercrime started, not so long ago, the teenage computer geek was the first offender, getting his kicks from hacking into corporate and government computer systems. The rise in personal computer ownership and internet use, however, has turned some bedroom hackers into the servants of sophisticated crime gangs.

Organised crime has seized on the potential of the worldwide web, with its speed and lack of respect for borders, to commit simultaneous offences around the world.

According to the first pan-European report on virtual crime, written by McAfee, the computer security company, crime syndicates are swapping guns and baseball bats for a new range of weapons with names such as “bot-nets”, “trojans” and “malware”.

The level of crime and the threat posed to businesses and individuals are increasing at a staggering rate. According to the report: “Two years ago, McAfee researchers were seeing roughly 300 potentially malicious threats emerging each month. Today the figure has rocketed to 1,500, largely due to the rising number of bots.”

The bot-net, which stands for robot network, is the latest cybercrime threat. The bot is a computer code that can be hidden by a script kiddie in thousands of linked computers. A trojan can then be remotely activated at a time of the crime gang’s choosing, effectively taking over a network of computers.

The technique can launch a “denial of service” attack, bombarding a company’s network with mass spam e-mails, pornography or any other disruptive assault that can shut down a business’s online communications and transactions. The criminals then e-mail the company with a ransom demand, saying that if they are not paid, the bombardment will continue.

Last March, German police uncovered a network of 476 hackers in 32 countries who had turned more than 11,000 computers into “zombies”. In September a Norwegian internet company shut down a bot-net controlling 10,000 machines.

“We get involved in investigations into this kind of activity in the UK every week and around the world all the time,” said Lee Fisher, McAfee’s European security strategist. “A lot of the kids have no real idea what they are getting involved in. They offer their services for as little as £100 in an internet forum. Organised criminals have realised they can tap into a very cost-effective way of getting someone to do their dirty work for them.”

Bots can be planted to establish bogus bank websites for “phishing” scams in which customers are lured into divulging their passwords and other security details. Another technique is the “pump and dump”, which entails the posting or e-mailing of enthusiastic but false press releases about company stock that appear to be legitimate. The fraudsters then sell cheaply bought shares at a price they helped to inflate.

No sooner do law enforcement agencies and internet security companies start to catch up than the criminals move on. The first telephone viruses have been detected and attacks on mobile devices are predicted to rise at least fivefold next year.

Security specialists say that computer owners must protect themselves with firewalls, anti-virus software and patches.

TODAY'S SLANG

Bot-net: network controlled remotely by cybercriminals
Denial of service: e-mail bombardment to paralyse a website for extortion
Malware: malicious software
Phishing: using spoof e-mail or website to elicit consumer security details
Pump and dump: to spread false information to inflate share prices then sell for profit
Script kiddies: teenage hackers disrupting networks for fun (aka kiddiots, lames)
Trojan: malicious program hidden in a network
Zombie: infected computer under control of a bot-net

OLD SLANG

Angler: thief who uses rod and hook to pilfer through letterbox/window
Blag: robbery
Cracksman: 19th century slang for burglar
Dabs: fingerprints
Diver: pickpocket
Fence: receiver of stolen goods
Lag: experienced criminal
Shooter: handgun
Snakesman: lithe burglar (often child) able to enter through small windows
Stiff: verb — to kill someone; noun — dead body
Taxing: extortion
Tea leaf: Cockney slang for thief

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