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FBI Does A Cracker-Jack Job

Posted by timothy on from the it's-not-entrapment-and-nobody-saw-us dept.

kade writes: "MSNBC has an article on a story about the FBI hacking the machines of a bunch of Russian crackers in an attempt to get evidence on them due to the the inability or unwillingness of the Russian goverment to assist them in fighting cybercrime." Another reader pointed to coverage on CNN as well.

3 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. I can just see the next X-Files... by Greyfox · · Score: 5
    Mulder: 1 4M 1337 H4X0R B140+CH!
    Scully: 411 UR B453 4R3 B310NG 2 U5!

    At which point hopefully the smoking man comes in and shoots them both in the back of the head.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  2. Re:This quote says it all... by Kingfox · · Score: 4

    They'll only have to pay $50 + court costs, $75... but if you get a lawyer to do a class action suit, then you can actually hit them up for the whole $2.7 million with ONE court case.

    As evil as class action suits are in the eyes of many, they're great for just that sort of thing. $75 is a thorn in the side, but a class action suit is a huge lamb-feces encrusted iron spike.

  3. Two key points by sllort · · Score: 4

    Two very interesting things in the article:

    1) "After Ivanov arrived in Seattle, accompanied by Gorshkov, agents posing as Invita officials asked the men to demonstrate their prowess on a computer outfitted with "sniffer" software to record every keystroke. After arresting the duo, they used account numbers and passwords obtained by the program to gain access to data stored in the computers in Russia, Schroeder said."

    Ok, so they brought them to the U.S., told them to log into their computers in Russia, sniffed the passwords, and then used the sniffed passwords to log into the Russian machines. This is hacking? Social engineering, maybe...

    2) "The agents downloaded the data, but did not view it until they obtained a search warrant from a U.S. federal court, he said."

    Now this is interesting. They don't need a search warrant to break into your computer, only to read what's there. Which means that breaking into a computer isn't search and seizure.
    Does this mean that if I break into FBI computers, but don't look at anything, that I haven't hacked them?

    Very, very interesting precedent...