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The World's Top Cybercriminals
bart_scriv writes "BusinessWeek profiles four individuals identified by law enforcement as the world's foremost online criminals. They're accused of crimes ranging from re-shipping rings to credit card theft and email fraud -- '...all are Russian. Strong technical universities, comparatively low incomes, and an unstable legal system make the former Soviet Union an ideal breeding ground for cyberscams. Also, tense political relations sometimes complicate efforts to obtain cooperation with local law enforcement.'"
If you're caught doing something illegal, it's almost guaranteed there is some price you can pay the police to be let go.
In my opinion, this hurts local small businesses immensely. I believe that it makes them more difficult to succeed and lays the groundwork for an instable/weak capitalistic system. There's even a problem with local law enforcement and bribes in many other countries. Honestly, if there was one thing I think that would help countries get back on track, it would be better law enforcement especially on the local level. How can people be expected to work and thrive in a system when the letter of the law is uncertain? How can you expect them to run a business and distribute goods/services if a thief can pay off police when he burglarizes the store?
My work here is dung.
If you needed a reason, there's a big one. Why deal with them if you don't have to?
Nope, we also have NSA. Spying on _you_ today!
Everything there is connected to politics, look at Chodorkovskij for example...
Pixel image editor - http://www.kanzelsberger.com
With their notoriety, hackers like these have created an entire industry that races to make computers more secure. Given that you'll always have a constant number of script kiddies that don't make the news, the result is more secure computers and more people with jobs in this antivirus market.
would you like me to show you how incredibly easy it is to set up a webserver in pretty much any country on the planet?
a webserver that could then be used for phishing scams and stuff. it could easily report all the data back to me in my home country.
you're going to have to think a little harder about the problem.
This issue is similar to the (existing) problem with Russian nuclear scientists taking their know-how with them to rogue states and terror groups. We need to get Russia to fix its economy, so that Russian programmers can get enough money legally. I think it's in everyone's interest to have them programing games, for example, than cracking systems and writing viruses.
'Loose' is when your pants are three sizes too big. 'Lose' is when you misuse 'loose'.
By definition, the world's top cybercriminals will never be identified.
For those who (like me) had no idea why "re-shipping" would break the law (except possibly as some cheesy customs violation), particularly to the extent that someone would count as a member of the top-four international cybercriminals...
The actual crime lies somewhere between (inclusive) credit card fraud and identity theft. The "shipping" part of that just helps launder the profits.
Just an FYI.
we're never going to convince Putin that what he really wants to do is crack down on people who are bringing a lot of money into the economy and who pose no threat at all to him. Trying to fight this through any kind of court just won't work for this reason. The only way we can really hope to stop this kind of thing is to do more lessons in schools about how pretty much every e-mail which isn't from someone you know is a scam. I don't really know what your education was like in IT in American schools but I know that for the first 3 years of secondary school (UK) I had a teacher who couldn't adequately use windows explorer to find files - we always got told to open the "package" (sic) and then go file -> open... not once did they even mention security. In my last 2 years it changed round a bit and there was some information (although a frighteningly inadequate amount) about security best practices and what have you.
If we want to keep people from getting spam scammed then education is the best way
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Is that anything like a cyberathlete?
This guy's the limit!
Just the fact that we know their names means that, by definition, they're NOT the "World's Top Cybercriminals."
The best would remain unknown.
One thing I don't get about stories like this is why is it so difficult to go and pick up known "bad guys"?
You can look an Wikipedia and get a list of the big drug lords, read articles like this, or go to SpamHaus and see the list of the big fraud/spammers, but they keep doing what they do for a long time.
Is it because these people are so wealthy that its hard to get them? Is it because governments and law enforcement places are corrupt and get bought off or are part of the action as well?
Inquiring minds want to know.
It's Ukraine.Well, the second worst spammer (BadCow is third) is Michael Lindsay, of iMedia Networks, California.
Its not surprising that they're Russian (and Ukrainian) if you choose to ignore the Americans.
I wonder what would happen if I posted a link to www.theftservices.com on Slashdot. I mean, what happens to links like www.theftservices.com when they get posted to Slashdot? What effect would it have on www.theftservices.com?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The best criminals are the ones you never hear about. Why? Because they don't get caught!
I've seen in the report that many hackers are atacking big sized companies like Walmart, and I can see that this affects companies that haven't got the budget to obtain intrusion detection systems provided by companies involved in machine learning.
Today the advances in neural networks, genetic algorithms, data mining and expert systems can be used in big companies to prevent credit card fraud and spam. Many of this systems use combined searching techniques with genetic programming to give outstanding results.
The problem is that this kind of software is expensive and I haven't seen any bing company using open source for this kind of software so maybe the medium sized business must make an investment in open source technology to provide open sollutions for smaller companies in the future.
We have gun. We have shovel. What problem?
We are all just people.
The CIA and Special Forces need to sharpen their skills if they're going to find Osama Bin Laden; set them loose on these bastards. Black ops are the way to go. Even better, mercenaries. I'll start a collection. Let's see their hacking skills save them from a bullet between the eyes.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
...oh, nevermind.
You, sir, should be running the State Department. You're a freakin' genius. Or a shill for the bomb shelter industry.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
"Law enforcement officials in Moscow who wished to remain anonymous admitted that a large purple gorilla was still at large."
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
I Malaysia is blocking my IP, I use an open proxy in, say, Vietnam, and access the "page creation" site from my house. Simple as that.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
For a moment there I though you were talking about India.
"I am invincible!"
Conspericy theory:
The hacker ringer leader had four computers. The goverment took three of them and gave the to his neighbors. In the traditional anarchist form black hat hackers posses, he teaches his three neighbors what he knows of duping fellow commrades out of there hard or not so hard earned money. Presto, you have the four top hackers of the world.
I want to be retired when I grow up.
First we set up phony credit card site, then we get moose and squirrel...
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
WTF? Is BusinessWeek now somewhere in "the mysterious future" as well?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
...oh fuck, I can't think of anything.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
"BusinessWeek profiles four individuals identified by law enforcement as the world's foremost online criminals. They're accused of crimes ranging from re-shipping rings to credit card theft and email fraud -- '...all are Russian"
Now, I don't always keep up with the computing world, but last I checked, Bill Gates was not Russian!
Although it certainly would explain a lot.
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
You couldn't do even legitimate business in Russia without having an under$standing with the authorities. If you tried, masked men with machine guns would break in to your offices and set about negotiating a better under$standing. Illegal business got mob protection or ceased to exist.
Obviously they're not the top cybercriminals.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
The word is "cracker", not hacker.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
It's "cracker", not hacker. Oh, and your entire post made no snese whatsoever. But of course we expect - perhaps even insist on - the latter on Slashdot.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
You can know that someone is up to something, and yet not be able to prove it, at least to the standard required in court. For example you've probably known about someone at school or the office who sleeps around. You are probalby quite sure it's true based on their actions and the gossip. However if I were to hold your feet to the fire and demand you prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, you couldn't do so.
Same thing for crime syndicates. The police have divisions, often called OCCB, that do nothing but watch these guys. By watching who talks to who you can figure out how the pecking order goes. However, that's not proof of anything. We have freedom of association in the US, so just because you are talking to some criminals, doesn't mean you are a criminal or that you did anything wrong.
Also it's not like they are always 100% correct about these lists. There are times where they peg someone as being involved with organized crime and they happen to be wrong, the person just deals with these people for whatever other reason.
Since we don't allow suspicion and inference to dictate criminal convictions, we have our current situation.
Every time I read the word "Godfather", I wish Piuzo and Coppola were executed publicly.
What a pathetic attempt at self-glamorization and self-aggrandizement supported by trashy media.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I would have thought that one of the top guys would either be Nigerian, or at least claim to be Nigerian.
I'm disappointed. I was SO eager to help repatriate some money.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
the whole article is a crap
Yep. It's a terrible situation. But at least we can take heart, knowing that our countries all have something in common
Even the existence of darkmarket and theftservices is a joke and slap in the face of the common sense. Catch the person who registered those website and execute him publicly in front of Googleland.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Mod parent up. The more materialistic a society is, the more "security" forces i.e. cops, i.e. repressive government it needs to protect individuals holdings of property, plus it needs complex contract law which equals bureaucracy and thick law books, etc. Libertarians need to make a CHOICE do you like liberty or material well being the best? If you like material well being be honest and call yourselves propertyarians and quite flim flaming people about liberty, it's a lie and it only makes you look bad when people figure out the truth. The fact that you believe the police who you normally hold to be bad repressive thugs suddenly become good when protecting your property shows your double standard. The same that you see thick books of contract law as not being evil bureaucracy which you would call ANY other thick law book.
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
can't be all that great seeing how they all got caught.
EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
I mean, he DDOs'ed Six Apart, threatened Blue Frog members, without mentioning all the spam he sent.
.
.
.
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And I don't discriminate or stereotype people by nationality. You and people who are resigned to allow a crime to occur without justice make me sick.
My work here is dung.
HAND!
I win, I always win.
Tell your sister I said hi and you mother that if I feel her teeth one more time while she is giving me head, I'm going to kick her in the uterus.
Couldn't help it:
Where's Bill Gates on this list? He's been nickel and diming everyone in cyberspace for far too long.
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
... OWWWWW! My kneecaps!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Anyone remember Fatal Error or Mudge or that even Jobs and Wozniak built and sold blue boxes?
Thanks to eating disorders most chicks are reasonably good looking these days.
What ?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Morpheus. Turn him in and we'll wipe your record clean.
or else!
The NSA.
Mr. President, we can not have, nor allow, a HACKER GAP!!
-----
I used to know a top hacker, but then he quit smoking.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Anarchism is different from Ochlocracy, which is what I believe you are referring to. Libertarianism is a type of Anarchism, and both believe in doing away with coercive rulership. Ochlocracy is mob rule, which is what most people mean when they say "anarchy."
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
And it's for precisely this reason that I don't need the police... ...I own guns.
Now if someone wants to take my property they better have more or better guns than I do.
Seems like a good cover to use a Russian-esque name if Russian-speaking nations are notoriously bad at apprehending criminal computer hackers. A cracker who appears more likely American or Western European would be more actively pursued.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
I think you're somewhat overestimating how "hard" it is to break organized crime groups. While RICO isn't always perfect, what it really seemed good at doing was making a big enough charge that when coupled with an offer of immunity and witness protection, got a lot of Cosa Nostra guys to turn informant.
With informants and RICO together, they've done a really good job at breaking the back of the Italian mafia in the U.S. It's not gone completely, but it is a faint shadow of what it was even 30 years ago.
I've long felt that there were inadequate resources applied to "cybercrime"; even in SPAM businesses that might be more or less tagged as legitimate (ie, money paid results in *something* delivered), the product is almost ALWAYS wholly fraudulent and the money trail trivial to follow, especially for forensic financial guys more accustomed to international drug cartels.
And where's the RICO prosecutions? It seems axiomatic to me that spam relies on people being able to spend money, and being able to receieve money from people must involve the cooperation of third parties (transaction processing, web hosting, mail sending, ISPs, shipping, etc), some of which have knowledge of the business being transacted and knowingly and willingly are accessories to it.
A single successful RICO prosecution that snared an ISP, or a bank, or other nominally legitimate business tacitly involved would likely create such an intimidating environment that many spammers would be choked off from the resources necessary to engage in that trade.
This might not necessarily solve some transnational scams (Nigeria, etc), but I think too often people expect or demand total success and if they can't have it do nothing. I'd rather have what we've done with the Mob -- incremental prosecutions that have largely gutted it -- than saying "These guys are too good" and doing nothing.
I actually agree with you anonymous, I'm probably one of only a dozen people on the "left" in the U.S. who believes in armed self defense. Why the "left" (pseudo yuppie left?) embraced gun control is beyond me considering that the IWW fighting back with gasp guns against the Pinkerton cops and National Guard is one of the ways we won a 40 hour work week in the U.S.
Really the entire political debate is fucked in the U.S. the right/Libertarians value material things above ALL else including human rights in the third world, a living wage here, and any kind of environmental sustainability whatsoever and the "left" believes in a big smothering state with gun control, porn control, violent video game control, big brother phone taps, national i.d. and other such controlling badness. The Republicans the same minus the gun control, but add in control over peoples sexuality, religious beliefs or lack there of, and right to decide whether or not to have an abortion. That's why my shtick is distrust ALL big organizations private OR state, and a pox on BOTH unthinking right wingers AND left wingers, and especially a pox on weak kneed moderates who often embrace the worse controlling and war mongering aspects of both Dems and Repigs.
And perhaps the Greens would do a better job but not only are they shut out by the MSM but they tend to be flaky fuckups, so stop dreaming about reform within the system and start doing it yourself outside the system with everything from unions to co-ops, to free software, to growing gardens, tell the big organizations public and private to kiss off every way you possible can.
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
Thank heaven for all the ones that worked on allofmp3.com!!! ;)
I think it's more specific than a culture of "flaunting the law". That attitude can be found in people in countries all over the world, whether it's speeding motorists in Los Angeles or hackers in East Europe. It may be more pronounced in Eastern Europe, but i don't think that's the issue.
The Russia and the ex-Soviet states had an entire 'industry' dedicated to reverse-engineering and stealing Western intellectual property. In a sense, not a lot has changed since the cold-war: rather than stealing Western technologies like chip designs, they are now using their technical prowess to steal more directly from the West.
The converse is true to some extent -- certainly many Western engineers and scientists worked extensively on understanding and reverse-engineering certain Soviet advances during the cold war (especially in the military sphere). The difference is that these Westerners were able to be redeployed productively into the economy in the post-Cold war era whereas these same ex-Soviet scientists/engineers and their successors have far fewer options, and fall prey to criminal syndicates who can provide them a Western living standard due to their large "revenues".
I have a minor in Soviet Studies (it's only value is that it makes my resume stand out from the pack). One astonishing thing I learned along the way was that back in Czarist times, local government officials generally didn't receive any pay; it was expected that they would make a living off of bribes!
With corruption of the rule of law running that deep, the current situation is hardly surprising.
The best won't be considered criminals at all. Perfect crimes, my friend...
Although I hate to say it or otherwise condone it, perhaps what we need are a few vigilante motherf*%@ers.
I want this account deleted.
But you try telling that to the laid-off roughnecks from the Baby Get Well Card factory!
$META_SIG_JOKE
why is it that russian countries are so strong in hacking? whatever happened to the cyber-task force of the US? look what they did to blue security.
That's what laissez-faire looks like in reality.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I'm all for gun ownership, but what happens when they
a) poison your food
b) launch a RPG from long distance (see: Mogadishu)
c) line everything beyond your property with grenades
d) see c) plus also snipers
Guns are hardly enough to defend your family in a society like Russia, where you have no idea where everything from the USSR's AK47's to their nukes and bio weapons, are being illegally stockpiled.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!