High-tech peeping tom fined €4,000

Spanish authorities have fined a student for using a Trojan horse to spy on a woman through her computer's web cam.

The student, who was referred to by the initials G.J.A.L., allegedly selected the victim by random in January 2002 by activating a Trojan horse that was already installed on her computer. The Subseven Trojan horse is able to invisibly monitor emails, online chat sessions and capture footage from a webcam, according to antivirus firm Sophos.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said there has been a dramatic growth in Trojan horses that can allow victim's computers to be controlled by a third party.

"It's remarkably simple to spy on another computer user, read their emails, watch which websites they visit, and even take pictures of them in front of their computer - if they have not taken the necessary precautions. We have seen a dramatic growth in Trojan horses which allow hackers to spy in this way," said Cluley.

According to Sophos, the Spanish court denounced G.J.A.L. for intruding on the victim's privacy and illicitly taking photographs of her. G.J.A.L. has been ordered to pay the victim, an unnamed 'young woman', €3,000 compensation and fined an additional €1,000.

In January, Spanish police arrested a man suspected of writing a virus that was capable of spying on users through their web cams and also stealing online bank passwords. The 37-year-old computer programmer from Madrid, who was identified by the initials J.A.S., allegedly wrote the virus and distributed it over a file sharing network. According to the Spanish Civil Guard, who have not yet revealed the name of the virus, the malicious program was disguised as a music or picture file.

Munir Kotadia writes for ZDNet Australia.