OPEN

If you can’t hack the crime, don’t go online. Or somesuch.

Another story in the FT (pay-walled indicating continuing decline of fortunes in the networked media world blah blah) flagged by Alan Moore details the activities in virtual worlds of gangs of virtual thieves who steal virtual object and sell them for real cash on eBay or whatever:

The hackers steal the passwords of players to gain access to their armouries and treasure troves, then sell the virtual assets online.

“These are commercial operations, where the target is to gain access to hundreds of accounts,” says Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at F-Secure, an online security group. “The [virtual] gold, weapons and spells are sold in open markets for real-world cash.”

No instances of this in Second Life yet that I’ve heard of. If you know of any please let me know (and virtual Crimestoppers too, of course).

In fact any links / info about virtual world crime would be of interest – I want to know more! Is this just a  great story from a security company that’s realised that press releases about virus updates are ten-a-Linden dollar and have found a fresh angle or is there a serious problem out there?

And remember, please don’t leave valuable items on view on your giant magical bird – it’s an invitation to criminals…