Slashdot Mirror
High-Tech Crimes Revealed
The book is a collection of high-tech investigations performed by Branigan in cooperation with the police force and sometimes the Feds. Generally Branigan would be involved in forensic research of the evidence and be on the scene as the "computer expert" that cops would refer to when dealing with cybercrime.
Twelve chapters take us through some of the high-tech crimes that the Western world faces today. An attack on the telephone network (unauthorized access to the switches), backdoors left at the former employer, hacking into university networks and the well-publicized identity theft are all covered in the book. Branigan brings up anecdotal evidence from his own career, describes some of his cases in great detail, and provides advice for practitioners in the forensics field.
The author is a Linux/Unix/BSD guru, and he shares his methods for retrieving telltale data from the equipment that the criminals leave behind. He also talks about the generic problems that law enforcement faces when investigating a high-tech crime - how do you obtain a warrant, what's a proper way to conduct searches, how do you work with the confiscated computer so that all the data is left intact?
However, don't expect some secrets to pop-up in regards to data collection - Branigan uses commonly available Linux tools like grep for searching the suspect's hard drive for needed data. More often that not, the investigator, it turns out, depends on his experience, not the book knowledge - one has to recognize the network sniffer log when they see it, and be capable of recognizing the tools freely downloadable from security sites.
Thus it's not surprising that there are some chapters in the book dedicated purely to the author's experience in the field. He describes working with the hackers who have been arrested, discusses how rootkits are spread around, discusses the motivation behind the network attacks (it's not always money, to say the least), describes the structure of a hacking ring and their potential revenues and also talks about ways to unravel the networks. His motto? No crime is too small, and sometimes things so little as missing the rent can lead to more discoveries and tie-ins into bigger crimes.
If you're thinking about becoming a security consultant, a law enforcement officer or just a sysadmin with better than average knowledge of security, this book is an interesting read. It's not a textbook, nor it is technical by nature. It reads more like a detective story, except the stories are real, the culprits are real and so are the victims. One can read the book on two levels - as a forensics tutorial (however, don't expect extended technical tutorials and tools overview) or as an autobiography of a cop, who had to deal with high-tech crimes all his life. If you liked Art of Deception or Hacking: The Art of Exploitation , this title would be a perfect complement.
Chapter 3, If Only He Had Paid the Rent, is available online from Addison-Wesley.
Alex enjoys reading programming, technology and business tech books in his spare time. He also keeps a list of free books available on the Internet for tech readers on a budget. You can purchase High-Tech Crimes Revealed from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I wonder if the author left out some "secret methods" he used in the field, since his now owns a company that specializes in solving leading edge computer and network security issues, those methods can be valuable trade secrets.
And high-tech criminals can also learn from others' mistakes and be more careful next time if the author detailed enough of how he traced a criminal.
So do slashdotters have any of these "secrets" to share?
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
So, one of the important things I hope this book demonstrates (not read the book, yet) is that for proper scientific or forensic analysis, you find the right/relevant talent or subject matter expert to examine your data. For instance, some years ago I was stunned to find out that the FBI had been shipping hard drives from Apple Macintosh systems to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for investigation. Apparently, the RCMP had established themselves as the subject matter experts and were the right folks to send data to from Apple systems. Of course this brings up all sorts of International issues, but that is only one example.
My point is simply that forensic agencies should not always attempt to do it all themselves. Rather it would be appropriate to build a network of subject matter experts and then approach the problem by having the best "eyes" examine the problem rather than always presuming your local agency/facility has all of the tools.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
In a related story, a new spin-off of a popular series has just been announced. We're pleased to give you CSI:Geek starring Rick Moranis as Gil "Open Source" Grissom.
Underholdning.info
I think its great to finally strip away the bull and finally get a true report of whats happened. We dont need words like malicious, evil or anything else like that in a news story. That show bias and is an obvious suggestion of whos in the right. Im not all saying hackers are good, but at least point out the other group who actually go out to bring in the bad guys.... or what about the "hackers" back from the homebrew computer club days... we owe alot to hackers and its great that finally we get an unbiased source from the neutral perspective
Sometimes the majority just means all the morons are on the same side.
If someone being suspected of a software security crime, can the defendent ever be convicted? After all, there were a couple of cases in UK that child porn possessors become free because they claimed the offending files come from 'self-destruct trojans'. Wouldn't criminals get away with that as well?
Seems like a rather interesting subject - sure to give it a shot. Though it does make me wonder a certain something: Considering the rate of cybercrime is growing at astronomical rate, and causing stellar amounts of damage on a daily basis, how come there are no private cybercop agencies?
:)
You know, companies you could hire to protect your bank clients from fraud or track already committed frauds, with proverbial cyberspace license to kill? After all, as so many net-renegades and rebels love to point out, cyberspace is free, and refuses to conform to laws of individual countries. That means a cyber-protection company stationed in some of more lawless countries, such as parts of Asia or former USSR could 'execute' ISPs who tollerate fraud originating from their servers or users or companies who actively engage in fraud and spam through well tested methods of DDoSing, server hacking etc?
I know, not completely on-topic... that's why I waited for someone else's first post
'...computers in the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons...' Popular Mechanics, 03/49'
That's not that big of a deal, we all know that Clifford Stoll started his famous chase after a mere 75 cent discrepency in the accounting system of Lawrence Berkley Laboratories.
-Mikey P
I can't say what the answer is in all cases, but in some security violations such as phishing, there's an easy to follow audit trail. Setup of servers, tracable IP addresses, etc. Yes, most hackers worth their salt spoof their IP, but that doesn't mean that they don't make mistakes. The ones who get caught and pay a stiff penalty usually have larger targets (as in NYtimes.com). And when they do get caught, sometimes the book is thrown to make an example (Mitnick). Claiming self-destructing trojans is a hard case to make if your case gets the attention of the government.
Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
At the end- this guy pled guilty just two months before all the evidence was destroyed in the 9-11 attacks....what a trippy ending!
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Steve also gave a presentation a couple of weeks ago to the NYLUG, which any of you New Yorkers might have caught. I think they have video footage of the talk on the website, www.nylug.org. The talk was better-than-average for this kind of thing.
...Although I should disclose that I work with him, so you'll probably want to judge for yourself.
The book has some great war stories, too. The entertainment value is worth something.
This is nothing more than a promo for CBS's new CSI spinoff: CSI: Silicon Valley
From the make-believe press release:
Almost all of the shows will take place in chat rooms and virtual reality environments. There, the cast will be represented by their chosen avatars, ranging from a hulking Atlas mech to Yuna from FFX to a beatifully rendered Ulala look-alike avatar. "It's not just about the crimes either" says Berny Phillips, one of the lead produces, "there's a lot of character development, too. There is one particular espisode where a characters avatar is threatened and the Atlas mech nearly sacrifices himself to save her. It's very sweet."
Of course, in real-life, all of the cast members are males.
--
I am joking. This is a joke. You have been joked with.
Make damned sure you have permission, in writing, for all the computers and networks that you run these tools against. (And make sure the tools aren't trojans themselves.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The computer crimes this guy talks about seem to be mainly the identity theft type. But when people inside companies skim off rounding errors, create phony accounts, that type of thing (e.g. Office Space), I have read that the crime itself usually goes undetected. They get caught when they do stupid things like associating with bookies and drug dealers, getting involved in some unrelated investigation where their mysterious wealth gets noticed.
There was one guy at Microsoft who made a couple $million selling software that he ordered internally for his department. His mistake was that he put up a website full of photos showing off his lavish house and collection of cars and expensive motorcycles. If the idiot had just kept his big mouth shut and retired he probably would have gotten away with it.
I was in an IRC channel one night, and some of the kids couldn't even figure out how to compile the code they had using Visual Studio.
The only problem is that most of these kids had no fear in commiting any crime, and it appears to me that they make up the majority of computer criminals.
So, preparing to be attacked by common methods is probably the best defense.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
The problem is isn't the hackers stealing people identity. There have always been unscrupulous people and there aways will be.
Most peopel that do ID theft I'd hardly qualify as a hacker. There is nothing high tech required, none ever need a computer to do it. A computer can't even really help to commit these illegal acts.
What the problem is, is that a simple 16 digit Credit Card number can be used as cash by anyone who knows those numbers. There is no protection what so ever! None, nada, nill, nothing what so ever! I it's almost like leaving a wallet full of cash on the sidewalk. Can you blame the person who finds it and doesn't turn it in?
Same thing for Identity theft anyone who knows your address, birthdate and SSN# , Mother maden name, birth place can be you! They can empty your checking account, buy a house, or a car and you have to pay the price. These several facts are totaly unacceptable on the part of those who accept this totaly unprotectable data as proof positive evidence of your ID.
Currently you can get a credit card is some one else's name easier then you can get a job in there name. When getting a job they require at least 2 to 3 forms of ID and make copys of it for verification of work elegablity and Fine a company heavily for failing to do so.
The Credit origanization are happy to give you credit without checking it's really you. Then can take a Guilty until proven innocent stance with almost no recourse what so ever! Any you stay punished until proven otherwise. Meaning your cash is seized, credit runied, house lost etc...
As a matter of fact it so easy for them to go after you, even when it wasn't you who they made the loan with, that they have little incentive to fix the problem! Why should they?
The burden should be put on those who are lending or providing money. If they said they had loaned me money, the burden to prove that they gave it to me should be them. If they couldn't produce adaquate proof and whould have to eat that lost money, I'm sure they would fix the ID theft problem overnight.
There is a real need to come up with more secure form of identification. Something that requires more then a 3rd Grade Education to crack.
The reason that I don't point at the goverment is that it against the LAW to use a SSN as a form of ID, although almost all Credit/Banks do use it as such. This needs to be enforced! Maybe if you want a Credit card or a Bank loan, you need to get a specialy issued ID card from some consortium of banks, where they finger print of you, take a photo and meet you in person, it's harder lie to someones face! This ID Card could use a DES/AES or some other harder to break system that required more then a pen and paper of photo copy machine to break.
At least that's my humble opinion.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
I started typing out a 100% complete answer to this, and it's way too big. Or at least i can't think of a simple way of getting all of my points across. So i hope this will suffice:
The point of using the open source tools is to probe the network for possible vulnerabilities. Look at nmap for example. It's a port scanner, and a damn good one. Unless some cracker is really, REALLY good he won't be able to improve on it. It'll be what he's using. Not to mention it's the best that your friend has available - he can't get ahold of those custom-made tools if they're any better.
As far as finding non-published vulerabilities in the applications you use, the biggest factor is your brain.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Actually, in the sample chapter, the author speaks of arresting someone who was running what appears to be a child porn ISP out of his apartment, in addition to having stolen workstations and passwords from local universities. Not ID theft at all in this case.
This might help with stolen CC's but that's not what identity theft is.
:)
If I apply for and receive a brand new CC in your name, you'll never know what my PIN will be
actually it will be 1234. OK?
Say it right: "Nuc-le-ah Powah".
the standards the feds will use to crack your hard drive if you are ever investigated: from my trove of rejected articles:
2004.10.11: "the standard for getting evidence from a computer"
Most of us love, or have at least grown highly dependent upon our computer[s] and PDAs, some of us keep very personal stuff in our computer. So here is a sobering little page on how your government plans to interrogate your hard drive if you ever fall afoul of the law. NIST is asking for comments by November 1 on a draft proposal of ways and standards to prove that a disk imaging tool is accurately dredging up your dirty little secrets. NIST also has a brief article about how it is looking into ways to recover forensic data from PDAs. The most interesting link there pointed to a PDF describing some tools you may not be aware of. The DOJ and Homeland Security put NIST up to this task.
"....Counsel for the defense my now cross examine the FAT."
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.