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DDOS Mafia On The Loose

Posted by timothy on from the strange-contrasts dept.

TivoLee writes "If you were worried that courts have been cracking down too much on Internet miscreants lately, think again. Sure, virus writers and spammers have been hit with some tough sentences in recent months. But what about this: the U.S. govt. has dropped charges against a group of four guys known as the DDOS Mafia. Two of the men admitted to releasing viruses so they could create botnets to launch DDOS attacks for hire. Their boss is accused of causing $2Mil in damage to victim sites. Yet prosecutors are dropping charges, so they can get the criminals to snitch on other criminals. Oi vey."

10 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Clarification by yelohbird · · Score: 5, Informative
    "Charges could still be brought. This just allows us to talk to defense attorneys and negotiate things before having to bring an indictment against a particular individual," said Alikhan.
    Title is misleading. This kind of thing happens quite often to negotiate with said criminals to see if they can use them as bait to hook on bigger fish.
    --
    h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org
  2. oh ffs by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1, Informative

    nothing worse than trying to sound multilingual and failing, its spelled Oy, not Oi.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  3. Without Prejudice by Detritus · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article states that the charges were dropped "without prejudice", which means that they can be refiled at a later date if the prosecutor decides that it is in the public interest to do so.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
    1. Re:Without Prejudice by ScrewMaster · · Score: 2, Informative

      Which just means that weren't really "dropped", the prosecutors just agreed to not pursue them if their other goals are met. It's still a sword hanging over the accused heads, and that's probably a good thing.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  4. Re:"Oi yey" by zakezuke · · Score: 4, Informative

    What does "oi yey" mean? Google's doesn't know.

    "Oy vey" (sometimes oy vay / oy way) is a Yiddish phrase and means roughly dear me or woe is me. Vey might actually have been adopted from the German "weh" which I believe is pain. Oy i'm not sure about. It should be an old Hebrew translated in the Christian bible as woe but who's to say. Where as "vay iz mir" (oy vay iz mir) is also a Yiddish expression for woe is me. Oy gevalt is a cry pain/suffering.

    It's my belief that "oi yey" is some schlemiel's attempt to write oy vey resulting in ferklempt.

    Shalom!

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  5. Sensationalist Headline by Bloodlent · · Score: 2, Informative

    "On The Loose"? They're being prosecuted yet somehow they're... on the loose? Stupid Slashdot.

  6. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    Not according to the article. There does appear to be a hierarchy. Online communities exibit facets of regular communities, people come together under a common cause or issue, so virus writers at times get together and got nuts.
    You call yourself a slashdotter? :-P
    What are you in the 5th grade or something?!
  7. Re:That's how it works. by CrazyDuke · · Score: 2, Informative

    The problem is, that the snitch can frame someone else as a bigger fish. One of the "terrorist cells" the US "found" was actually a few muslim guys a fraudster knew. When the fraudster got caught, well, he decided to rat them out as terrorists in order to get away with a reduced sentance...

    Initial story.
    Later story.

    The video tape profiling Disney world as a target ended up being a tourist tape. The notebook with a sketch of a base in turkey ended up being the mad scriblings of a crazy guy who lived at the place before them that thought he was the head of the military of the entire middle east or something...

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
  8. Re:Smart move by glassjaw+rocks · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah, back in my IRC days I would know all these kids that would judge thier AWEOSME LEETNESS!! by how many bots they had. Kind of pathetic. But hey, if you can't get a girlfriend, why not try for a botnet?

    --
    -gjr
  9. Re:"Oi yey" by Pugflop · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Schmerz" is German for pain. However, "Es tut weh" means "it hurts", or literally, "it does hurt".