Wanted - An Electronic Achilles

Identity Theft

ICSTIS, the body that regulates premium rate phone numbers in the UK, recently received about 50,000 complaints from PC users who claimed that secret Trojan software had changed their internet dial-up settings to connect automatically to premium rate phone numbers.

ICSTIS concedes this was only the tip of an iceberg. Anyone who fell victim to that infestation and who banks online could also be vulnerable to Trojans that take control of their machines to conduct rogue banking transactions.

"Our view is that Trojans are potentially a much more insidious and damaging threat than phishing," says Sandra Quinn, spokeswoman of the Association for Payment Clearing Services, which leads the industry fight against online fraud.

"Absolutely," agrees George Thompson, director of security services at business service providers KPMG. "They could be worse than phishing simply because users are not aware that these things are on their machines."

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