The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has detected that roughly 1,500 of Virgin Media's broadband ISP customers have been infected by the SpyEye Trojan, which puts the users at risk of identity theft or fraudulent bank activity. Luckily Virgin's Malware Defence Campaign, which was launched last year (here), has enabled the provider to proactively write to related customers and inform them of how to solve the problem.


SpyEye typically finds its way onto computers via spam (junk) emails or fake product order messages and can sometimes even be accompanied by a fake digital signature for its attachment. SpyEye targets MS Windows based operating systems and is invisible from your Task Manager. It also hides its files and registry keys from regular searches.

It's important to note that Virgin Media Security is included for free with their broadband packages, although research conducted by Virgin's Digital Home Support service recently found some worrying results. Around 25% of the customers who contacted them had not installed any computer protection or were failing to keep their existing software up-to-date.


Nobody is immune to the threat posed by malicious software (malware) online, even some of those with the toughest security sometimes get hit by issues like this. Ultimately the best protection is common sense, keep your software updated and don't open any attachments unless you're absolutely sure of the content. A little paranoia about your computers security can actually be beneficial.