Slashdot Mirror
DDOS Mafia On The Loose
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."
Ironically, when I clicked on the comment button, Slashdot told me there was "Nothing to see here. Move along." Denial of slashdot? :-)
Why is this bad? It's worked well against organized crime, why not try it against organized cyber-crime?
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
This is a common prosecutorial practice... whats the big deal?
Here's a hint. They do the same thing for murderers, drug trafficants, gang members. Prosecuting them will take 4 places in jail. Getting them to cooperate will help stop others, and they probably have to engage themselve not to continue doing viruses / ddos. Everyone wins. Honestly, if they do it with murderers, is it THAT surprising that they do the same thing with script kiddies?
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In other words, normal lawyer tactics. Nothing to see here.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
Rewards are expected to be offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Mr. Malda. :)
SopranOS
This sort of thing happens all the time. Prosecutors are always willing to adjust or drop charges in exchange for information which would lead to big arrests for other people. Sure these guys caused $2 million in damages, but maybe the government knows these guys could help them find other people that have caused $10 million in damages, or maybe these guys could help the government find other people who are planning these attacks before these other people do $2 million or $10 million in damages.
I Am Not A Lawyer, but I've taken some criminal law classes taught by experienced attorneys, and I watch Law & Order. On the other hand, maybe there's something I'm missing.
Wait? Why are all the Slashbots packing suitcases for overnight trips to Canada?
"What's the frequency Kenneth?"
Part of agreements like that are "and you keep your nose clean in the future." These guys will have an eye kept on them, and if they go back to their old habits not only can they be charged with the new crimes, but with the ones they made a deal on as well.
I have no problem at all with this, provided it is used to catch more important criminals. I mean really, I'm not that interested in the script kiddies that write the software and create the botnets. I want them stopped, of course, but I'm more interested in the people behind the operation that pay them and benefit from it. Bust the kiddies, the backers will find new ones, bust the backers, it's a done deal.
Even if, in the end, all the charges are dropped, we will likely be very safe from the DDOS Mafia. Think about it: every bit of data they transmit will likely be monitored. Sure, they might try to pull a quick one past the government, but all of a sudden, at least for them, such an attempt just got much more difficult.
SlashDot: Jews for nerds. Stuff that's farklempt. *dodges tomatoes*
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, who, via his massively popular website Slashdot, has been crushing other, weaker websites for years. Prosecutors have a great deal of evidence, but are still looking for motives.
Speaking of this, has anyone yet solved the Slashdot Paradox?
Few read the articles, yet the web servers get annihilated!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I'm waiting for an angry group of Russian mobster geeks to go postal on some U.S. Cyber Crime witnesses. I can see it now "Hax0r hacked in two, two days before testifying in trial."
Now, what would be funny is if they used a rail gun to do it. HEADSHOT.
Help me, help you. - Jerry McGuire
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.
In former times, the Internet used to be the place where our clowns would laugh in happy anarchy. ...) those have brought with them banished from our networks.
Corporations and Business from "real life" have since taken over the networks.
We - rightly - want the filth (organized criminality, theft, fraud,
But the ultimate outcome will be a governed Internet. Already, DRM is around the corner and internet communications are being tapped.
Protect Internet Anarchy! Suffer the occasional virii and spam mails - for the sake of a free Internet!
I'm not suggesting, it's the truth. Go do a bit of research on it. There are two big purchasers of botnets:
1) Spammers. They are generally more interested in the zombie'd machine version to use it to send SPAM,.
2) Extortionists. They threaten sites with DDoS's if protection money isn't paid. If that sounds like a normal mob scam, well it is and that's often who's behind it, one of the OC syndicates out there.
There are certianly script kiddies that do it just for their own benefit, but those are generally the IRC variety. They attempt to take over channels and the like. Big attacks on major sites predicated by demands for money are generally backed by criminals with a little more experience in this kind of thing.