Police bust Adobe pirate, warn of trojan

Summary: The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has warned of a new trojan infecting computers via counterfeit Adobe software after arresting a counterfeiter on Friday.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has warned of a new trojan infecting computers via counterfeit Adobe software after arresting a counterfeiter on Friday.

A 40-year old woman has been charged with selling fake Adobe products after the AFP raided her vehicles and her Victorian home, seizing a CD burner and over 200 fraudulent products.

The woman admitted to making fake copies of Adobe software and will front court for breach of the Copyright Act 1968 "at a later date".

The trojan buried within the counterfeit gear is capable of collecting personal information and exposing the victim to identity crime, the AFP said in a statement.

"This case highlights that the money you save from purchasing a cheaper, counterfeit product may come at a high cost to your privacy," said Peter Sykora, AFP commander of crime operations.

"Identity theft could place your personal and financial information in the hands of organised criminals," he added.

Topics: Security, Government AU, Malware, Software Development

Luke Hopewell

About Luke Hopewell

A fresh recruit onto the tech journalism battlefield, Luke Hopewell is eager to see some action. After a tour of duty in the belly of the Telstra beast, he is keen to report big stories on the enterprise beat. Drawing on past experience in radio, print and magazine, he plans to ask all the tough questions you want answered.

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  • In any support forum, tech site, and just about anywhere that computers are taken seriously is always the warning "don't download cracked software or keygens because you don't know what it contains".

    Still, many people come up with "I just downloaded , and now my computer doesn't work. Can you fix it?"
    dmh_paul