12/09/2007

Users of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications have been warned that they may be vulnerable to attacks from hackers who use such programs to steal data for fraud purposes.

Following the charging of a Seattle man for crimes related to P2P-based fraud, technology firm SafeMedia said that many people may be unaware that they could have left sensitive information open to theft by cyber criminals.

Gregory Thomas Kopiloff was recently accused of using programs such as Limewire and Soulseek to search for financial and other data stored on other people's computers.

He then used this information to apply for credit cards and spend thousands of dollars on various goods for resale purposes.

'If teenagers are file-sharing music or movies (over P2P networks), who knows how many criminals might be sharing the family's personal information, credit cards, bank passwords and social security numbers with scheme operators who buy them,' commented Safwat Fahmy, chairman and chief executive of SafeMedia.

According to P2P technology firm CacheLogic, nearly two-thirds of all P2P traffic consists of video transfers, followed by other formats (27.22 per cent of traffic) and audio (11.34 per cent).