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We Know Who's Behind Storm Worm
jmason reminds us of a story from a few weeks back that got little attention, adding "This doesn't seem to be just bluster; as far as I can tell, everyone who knows the RBN now agrees that this seems likely." Brian Krebs's Security Fix blog at the Washington Post carried a story about the Storm worm containing some pretty staggering allegations. "Dmitri Alperovitch [of Secure Computing] said federal law enforcement officials who need to know have already learned the identities of those responsible for running the Storm worm network, but that US authorities have thus far been prevented from bringing those responsible to justice due to a lack of cooperation from officials in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the Storm worm authors are thought to reside. In a recent investigative series on cyber crime featured on washingtonpost.com, St. Petersburg was fingered as the host city for one of the Internet's most profligate and cyber-crime enabling operation — the Russian Business Network. Alperovitch blames the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the political influence of operatives within the Federal Security Service (the former Soviet KGB) for the protection he says is apparently afforded to cybercrime outfits such as RBN and the Storm worm gang. 'The right people now know who the Storm worm authors are,' Alperovitch said. 'It's incredibly hard because a lot of the FSB leadership and Putin himself originate from there, where there are a great deal of people with connections in high places.'"
What's it like being Russian or Chinese, and working at an ISP or in law enforcement?
What's it like having some of the worst spammers and for-crime hackers living in your country, not giving a shit, and having the world think you're a bunch of assholes?
In the States we have our own problems, mostly the fact that our society is so open that law enforcement is not able to go after everyone (for now, anyway). But you just know that the equivalent entities in China or Russia just don't care. Homegrown hackers are dicking with competitor nations? Nice one, comrade!
Our shenanigans are cheeky and fun, while theirs are cruel and tragic.
Indeed. Because the US Government would never involve itself in any operation overseas where virtual property is lost or stolen. No, the US administration prefers to make sure *actual* property and *actual* human life is lost or stolen, and then give out contracts to its buddies to rebuild.
While you're worrying about your mom getting a virus, think about the parents in Iraq worrying that their kids will be catching one of the unexploded cluster bombs, or getting raped by some US soldiers.
What is the US's incentive to take care of this issue? Like it or not, its good for their buddies in halibur^H^H^H their economy.