The Chinese government this week sentenced 11 hackers to prison for writing and distributing Trojans to steal the account passwords of online gamers.

"The people, who stole login information for more than 5 million game accounts, were given prison sentences of up to three years and were fined a total of 830,000 Chinese yuan (US $120,000)," writes Network World's Owen Fletcher.

"Reports of arrests and court sentences for cybercriminals have become increasingly common in China after the country has strengthened its laws governing the activity," Fletcher writes. "The government action has come in response to increasing signs of organization among cybercriminals, including division of the labor needed to design, distribute and profit from information-stealing malware."

Click here to read the Network World story.