Reason #1,763 Not to Use Windows

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If you needed another reason not to use Windows, an anonymous Observer found it. It seems that yet another exploit for a Windows security flaw is making it possible for bad guys to directly profit off of Windows machines. A report from the BBC says that Ireland is taking the extreme step of blocking phone calls to the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Mauritania because hijacked Windows machines are being used to redirect calls to ISPs in those countries. From the article:

It is a complex but lucrative fraud. The criminal installs software on computers without the knowledge of the user.

The settings of that computeris internet dial-up are altered, so that when the internet is dialled up, it rings a foreign and highly expensive number.

A portion of the cost of that call can then be siphoned off by the criminal.

The report says that one businesses rung up charges of some ?12,200, which is enough to buy 9 new iMac G5s. You can find the full story at the BBCis Web site.