Slashdot Mirror
EU Gumshoe Chases Internet Villains
Robert Haskins writes "The Pittsburg Post-Gazette is carrying an interesting Wall Street Journal story about a guy who works for Microsoft and chases virus writers, software counterfeiters, spammers and other suspected law breakers. Can companies really make a difference by helping law enforcement like this?" From the article: "Mr. Fifka isn't a cop. He works for Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Safety Enforcement Team. Created in 2002, the group is part of the U.S. software giant's intensifying efforts to combat cyber crime at a time when consumers and businesses are becoming increasingly frustrated with fraud and virus attacks on their personal computers, most of which use Microsoft's Windows operating system. As Internet crime proliferates, law enforcement is relying more on the private sector to help counter it. That's because tracking cyber criminals requires a different set of skills than police have traditionally used. Compounding the challenge is the speed at which new online threats are morphing."
Well he isn't doing a very good job, maybe he isn't intimidating enough. I hear the reason there are so few Linux viruses is because Tux goes around vigilante-justice-style and beats the hell out of anyone who writes one. I don't know about you but I would crap my pants if opened the door and saw a giant overweight penguin (or an overweight Finnish guy for that matter). Don't even get me started on the BSD devil.
Pittsburgh is one of the very rare exceptions to the general rule that towns in the U.S. are spelled with -burg.
In the 19th century, the U.S. Postal Service pushed to standardize all the towns ending in -berg, -burgh, -berg, etc. to a single spelling. Most switched, but Pittsburgh was one city which resisted the push.
is they cannot pay 100k+ for dedicated CS people, anybody who has the skills will be working for [somecorp] as they will pay the market rate, cant blame the individual as business is business, why work for the police for 50k when you can earn double in the market.
Of course if people want to pay more taxes (like corporations for a start) then you will get the police force society needs for a modern world, but until then you will only get alturistic people and alturism is frowned upon in America, greed is good, get rich or die trying
I'm frustrated that Microsoft doesn't release anti-virus software. I mean, is that because they don't want Norton and other companies be short on cash? They have a huge market share, they can do that and won't lose much. There is none of this stuff on Macs, that's why I'm switching. Windows is just too fragile.
Waik, http://waik.sourceforge.net
Where is the spyware
for OS X and Linux?
Secure by design.
It was a hot dark night when she came in. You know the kind of night, and you know the kind of broad. Both could make you sweat, and knock you on your ass.
I'd sent my secretary home early. I had no cases, but a half-bottle of whiskey and a revolver. When she walked in, I was a little past feeling good and ready to shoot.
"I'm lookin' for Porn, Sam Porn. You him?" she asked in a voice that made me melt.
"What's it to ya, lady?" I asked, half-hoping she'd answer, half-hoping she'd leave.
"I've got this web site, see." she replied. "It's kinky and cute, straight tits and ass. But now somebody's busted in, all kinds of bondage. I need someone with guts and brawn, and maybe some brain. I can pay. Thousand big ones now, five more if you can catch the perv."
My smarter half said leave this dame alone. She was trouble, and that was for sure. But the rent had to be paid, and I didn't even have half a bottle of whiskey.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Seriously, when's the last time you saw a virus? The vast majority of problems I see these days are caused by spyware. It's much more likely to open something/be exploited/install spyware than it is to find a virus in a file. That's my experience, at least.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
MICROSOFTTT.....FUCK YEA!!!
Yep, it was just another boring day until a client showed up. He was all boo-hooing over something that was after his business and acting all irrational, but then clients are like that. It seems some computer virus was out to get his software and I needed this mess like I needed a Windows upgrade. Which made sense in its own twisted sort of way. You see, the client was Bill Gates.
I'm Peter Fifka, and I'm a Private Internet Investigator."
Similar to the upcoming US election results
Just have Microsoft fix their own dam software!
If Microsoft cannot fix the security holes then they should opensouce it so it gets fixed by the Linux community. Microsoft can still sell software and support.
Besides security thru intimidation is a false sense of security. Someday everyone will meet up with a bruiser taller, stronger and meaner than you. For starters I would make Gwedo eat that damn cigar!
Your Average Joe
As Internet crime proliferates, law enforcement is relying more on the private sector to help counter it.
That's a big concern. People who work in law enforcement should not also have other kinds of interests. Even without deliberate abuse of power, someone who comes from a corporate environment will bring his own set of prejudices and interests to the table. For example, someone working for Microsoft may be more interested in pursuing piracy using Linux and less interested in tracking down people who write viruses that infect Macintosh. It also may lead to a situation where the primary means of getting the police to do something is to pay someone lots of money; it is even more disconcerting that those someones are ex-police, which really is getting pretty close to outright corruption.
If you think about it, it is also truly bizarre that companies like Microsoft find it easier to finance a private police force to track down virus writers than to fix their software.
Am I the only one getting the distinct feeling that their version of Cybercrime happens to be "piracy of Microsoft products"?
I think this is a good idea given the ineptitude of most local law enforcement agencies when dealing with high tech crime.
I could say the same for the FBI, we had a guy post intimate knowledge of a cop killing from our net cafe. The killing wasn't publicised much. The FBI came and bungled the whole computer forensics operation. For one they copied the HDDs w/ some slow crappy program and then took the copies instead of the originals. Luckily some other agents caught the guy after he posted from somewhere else.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
That is the problem.
A more secure operating system with tools to identify and filter out malware is the solution.
This is just paint over dryrot.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
That's the funniest thing I've heard in days.
I bet he can't capture Carmen_Sandiego. No one can catch her!
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
What does the title have to do with the text?
Little.
EU?
Gum?
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Half the stuff these guys do would probably not be legal for a policeperson to deal with. This is just another case of outsourcing breaches of rights to the private sector.
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
They described how they act as an intermediate body for all law enforcement agencies involved in computer crime. From forensic analysis to crime-scene procedure, they were designed to both advise and participate. I can't speak to any specific crimes that they had been involved in, but it seemed like the idea, if handled properly, was a good one.
When I visited in 2003, they were just ramping up. They had already been assisting local law enforcement, but seemed to still be moving in. Most of the "tech" was in place, including massive file servers and clean rooms, but the individual offices looked sparse, with boxes still unpacked. I was half expecting it to look like something out of the movies - darkened, secretive, maybe in a cave somewhere - but it was just on the 13th floor of a standard downtown office building with all the harsh amenities of a 30-year old downtown high rise.
I would certainly hope that what they spared in decoration was made up by the effectiveness at solving these crimes.
Which, as we all know, flows down the waterfall diagram and winds up landing on the end users.
It's positive to see that companies aren't just out to screw everyone, they can help society by investigating crimes like cracking, spam, piracy, fraud and spying.
If more companies were this positive, there might not be such an anti-corporate agenda on this site. I know it's Microsoft but they're not all as moronic as Steve Balmer!
Carmen Sandiego, you call'd
Firefox users, those ones with that tricky "unfindable" cache. Surely they are the virus writers since they don't use IE, the number 1 cybersleuth recommended product!?
...works for Microsoft and chases virus writers
/pedantic
There is nothing wrong with writting a virus. Releasing it into the wild is the no-no.
For those who missed the rest of the story, a previous thread talks about the target in the Czech Republic.
It is interesting that MicroSoft would allow this fellow's real name (well, at least one that shows up elsewhere) to be released. Kudos to Peter. Of course, anybody who can get a job browsing the internet deserves respect. :-]
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
Either too much, too little, or wrong kind. That's what would scare me.
Infuriate left and right
They can't do either, how could they do both?
Infuriate left and right
A bot of some sort came by one of our clients web sites and found a hole in the 'contact us' page. I'm guessing this bot used some sort of a Google search to find likely pages. It submitted the contact us from 5 times, with various values in the fields...each time, trying to send a bcc: email to an aol address. It worked on one of the posts...they found a hole. Later that night, we had a few thousand emails sent through our server via carefully crafted posts to our contact us form. Tracing back the ip addresses, one came from a wide open proxy server in Vietnam...not much of a way to trace that one back to the source. Amazing how this whole process is probably automated. (BTW, the spam worked. It was for a particular penny stock that doubled in price over the last few days. Someone just doubled their money.)
I'm always very weary of those who "police" the Internet, be them people such as this guy working for Microsoft, or even the moderators at various forums.
n .html
o ard=577219&topic=23261348
Take the GameFAQs.com forums, for instance. In a topic entitled "We should just ban somebody when we don't like their face." we find the following topic-starting message:
From: Sashanan | Posted: 9/1/2005 1:12:15 AM | Message Detail
Like every other forum on the internet does. And don't allow people who are banned to ever return. And give moderators the authority to just randomly moderate whatever they feel like for fun.
I mean, people complain already under the most ****ing lenient moderation system ever devised, so what's the difference?
---
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
http://www.mastagus.com/sash/collection/collectio
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?b
(Let's hope they don't go and delete that incriminating message!)
Keep in mind that this "Sashanan" person is, according to his or her profile, a "53: Lead Moderator".
That is very typical of the attitudes that such moderators have. Funnily enough, such moderators will turn around and post the common "I'm American, I love freedom!" rhetoric, all while holding opinions that are completely against the most basic of American (or even democratic/Western) principles.
I thought that M$=B$ corporate cops where more interested in rooting out the penguinista's that have infiltrated their redmond re-education facility (where good coders go to have their "source" warped and have an EULA imprinted in their genes).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
an interview with Benny.
More news about Benny's job
Is Windows a Virus?
No, Windows is not a virus. Here's what viruses do:
- They replicate quickly - okay, Windows does that.
- Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system as they do so - okay, Windows does that.
- Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk - okay, Windows does that too.
- Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable programs and systems. Sigh... Windows does that, too.
- Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware. Yup, that's with Windows, too.
Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are fundamental differences: viruses are well supported by their authors, are running on most systems, their program code is fast, compact and efficient and they tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.
So Windows is not a virus.
It's a bug.
Circumcision is child abuse.
And the reason "law enforcement is relying more on the private sector" is not just that they don't have the skills.
It's because these are no normal, human-vs-human crimes. These are crimes against IP. These are crimes against corporate America.
The corporations are just enforcing the laws they lobbied into existence. Don't worry; they'll eventually lobby to have "anti-piracy" police budgets increased enough that they won't have to overtly aid the police.
Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Safety Enforcement Team... FUCK YEAH!
Fighting to save the motherfucking world!
Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Safety Enforcement Team... FUCK YEAH!
UTF-8: There and Back Again
is MS good or bad now?
Oh well, what the hell...
Well, take this: http://plf.zarb.org/logo.php
Oh well, what the hell...
First you invent a loophole,
then you hire people to overcome it.
That's basic software engineering.
[ This response typical of some Slashbots ]
This is a BIG problem -- Police work must NEVER be with the private sector.
Virus writers actually can be thought of as vaccine creators, akin to Louis Pasteur.
(Yes, the intent is opposite and large-scale destruction is caused - but ignore that)
M$ must NOT have an 'enforcement division' to track down virus writers. It must ONLY fix it's software. Only this will level the playing field. Because Micro$oft is a virus itself! (Humor can substitute logic! Haha, funny!)
Sounds like an oxymoron.
This guy is a fool. You never help the pigs. You never talk to the pigs. Anyone who has lived in the ghetto knows that. You fight the pigs with everything you have. The pigs are interested in one thing and one thing only. Projecting power. If everyone hasn't figured it out by now, the justice system is simply a smokescreen and a farce behind which that is done.
I'm not from the getto. I'm a middle class American computer guy. But I learned a lot about the ghetto, and you're about to hear my story and why this guy needs to be sent to prison himself as a wake up call to meet the SOB's face to face he thinks he's helpoing.
I'm a typical computer guy like the rest of you. I saved up $350 for my first C64 and knew how to program it before I got it home, by programming on them in the stores. I went through Macs, building my own PCs, Linux, BEOS, QNX, programming, shell scripting, webdesign, gimp editing, running a bbs, emulators, builing my own wifi repeater... you name it I've done it.
For 5 years I ran a charity that collected PCs from schools and universities, refurbished them, and gave them to the poor. It was the second largest in my state and my URL was all over the net.
Then one day, boom, it ended. Someone made an accusation against me, and I had to fight for my life to prove I was innocent. They had nothing more than an accusation... no evidence... and their story didn't even make sense. It didn't matter, and I got the shock of my life when I lost. The judge said "12! do 7... meaning 12 years, do 7... basically, a death sentence"
You don't understand. The courtroom isn't a courtroom, its an abatoir (a place where sheep are brought to be slaughtered, dazed and bewildered, like jews stepping off the train into a concentration camp). These people are masters at the slander game. They can paint you any way they want you. And they will, while you sit there quietly like a deer in the headlights being pleasant and nice not speaking a word
I spent two years in an American prison. It was absolute hell. I was tortured. I was locked in a sensory deprivation box, I was systematically deprived of sleep, deprived of food, roasted alive in a steel tin building, drilled like I was in the military, yelled at, attacked, locked in cells with two consecutive different roommates who were pyschopathic butch thugs (read flaming gay dangerous). I begged, I wrote grievances, I pleaded, please move me anywhere, and nobody lifted a finger.
I had a job, I worked
Two doors down from me was an RFDI engineer, who was in for... get this... adultery. I nicknamed him Marconi. My nickname was Einstein. A black guy stuck that one on me, because the average grade level was 6... I tested out at 13th... the highest the test went. I was always helping people spell letters, or write letters home, or helping with GED algebra which I know inside out (calculus even). I worked in the library shelving books.
I spent my time avoid all the stupidity in there, writing, making webpages on paper. I made a little harddrive out of paper and set it on my shelf for inspiration even once, it was something to know my webserver was still out there serving documents to the world. I dreamed when I got out of that hell hole of posting to slashdot on the main page... I'm not joking, for real, I've got it scanned somewhere now.
After two years, I won my appeal. That's how long the process takes, minimum, and your chances are slim at best even then. Once they have you, they are making 40K off of you a year, 90% of which goes to guard salaries, innocent or guilty, your a cash cow. America is a police state, under the surface, a huge business. I was in warehouse after warehouse where you could see heads for as far as you could see...
Esp. in the cafeteria. Imagine that scene in Star Wars Episode III, on the planet where the Genoseans are cloning Bobba Fet the bounty hunter, and all the Bobba Fet clones are eating... that is exactly what it looked like... packed in like
Before someone else corrects me, I meant Star Wars Episode II.... sorry... hit one too many "I"'s there... and my spelling is actually pretty good, I didn't stop to check for typos so I could fire that off before I lost my moxie before pressing the send button ;-)
One thing to know about prison, was that the people who were in there for crimes that have the most shock value... and had the longest sentences... ie, murder, statutory rape, etc... the bulk of them were the most harmless. These had been one time things they had done in moments of passion, or anger, or when they found themselves in some situation that pushed them beyond typical human endurance. Most of those could be let out today with little danger.
The most dangerous people were the petty thugs and hustlers and bullies and homosexual thugs and people who had been crooked from day one since they were born... those were some very dangerous people. And most of them were in for dealing drugs or property theft or assault. Prison is a sick sensory deprived environment that only makes them sicker.
These folks are at the level of 6th graders, almost like animals, but dangerous animals. Imagine taking an abused uncontrollable child, who has had no parenting, and locking them in a sensory deprivation closet as the "solution". Is that enlightened? No. Is it twisted. Yes. Because prison does one thing and one thing only: it makes people go stupid and insane. The food, the noise, the sensory deprivation, the confinement, the austerity, the heat, the cold, they unbelievable humidity....
You wouldn't think humidity could be torture, but it is... when its so humid the walls are sweating and water is dripping down them, when for hours on hours you are stuck to your clothes... when it goes on for weeks and weeks... when you can see fog inside a building... I'm not kidding, fog inside a building...
Can we have Tom Hanks and Leonardo DeCaprio star in this one?
Just so you know... this is known to some. That's why my goal for future employment involves international waters.
Trust no one.
How is this any different than car makers setting up speedtraps outside small towns that may not have the "resources" to buy the equipment and pay the officers?
Hell, why don't we just turn all security over to the corporations? Look what a great job the rentacops have done for those in New Orleans!
... note that as the EU expands eastwards the definition of "Eastern Europe" keeps changing.
This is because the EU is "clearly" in "the West", so no countries which are part of the EU are in "Eastern Europe", even if they were last year.
So, whilst "Eastern Europe" used to mean places like Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland etc it now means Ukraine and points east.
"the group is part of the U.S. software giant's intensifying efforts to combat cyber crime at a time when consumers and businesses are becoming increasingly frustrated with fraud and virus attacks on their personal computers, most of which use Microsoft's Windows operating system. "
Bull shit, its Microsoft's effort to distort enforcement. Instead of terrorists they want the police to concentrate on counterfeiters because counterfitting pays for terrorism (BS).
They want to deflect attention away from their sale of faulty insecure goods to the 'hackers' or cyber terrorists as we they want to call them because they cost 100's of Billions of dollars in costs (BS ).