Shaming Russia Into Action On Cyber Crime

krebsatwpost writes "The Washington Post ran a piece earlier this week that confronts the myth that cyber criminal gangs in Russia and Eastern Europe avoid attacking their own, pointing to numerous examples of late that counter this common misconception. The story draws on data from Team Cyrmu about distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) that target Russian and E. European organizations, intel from McAfee about Russian banks and federal agencies that appear to be under control over cyber gangs there, and tens of gigabytes of data stolen via keyloggers that disproportionately impact Russian systems, including that of a top Gazprom official. The piece begins: 'If you ask security experts why more cyber criminals aren't brought to justice, the answer you will probably hear is that US authorities simply aren't getting the cooperation they need from law enforcement officials in Russia and other Eastern European nations, where some of the world's most active cyber criminal gangs are thought to operate with impunity. But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?'"

Comments

Widespread blackouts from Moscow?

[AHuxley]

" But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they
were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?'""

In the eyes of the Russia gov they are just learning? Russia was invaded and messed with so many times, why not bone up on the 'internet'?
One day Russia will need the skills the brave apartment dwelling computer experts have learned and shared.
To traverse computer systems worldwide, to enter your power companies Microsoft based "supercomputers" and turn them off in really smart ways.
A point of delivery for your city?
Change the temperature of gas-encased power lines, killing the hardware?
All from a lap-top and modem in a Moscow apartment shared by 2 families and 2 large dogs.
As for the malware that earns valuable hard currency.
The porn rings open up potential blackmail options to the FSB.
Its win win win for Russia. Just dont mess with FSB, or people under the protection of the FSB.

I said it before...

[GeekDork]

Cut Russia and China off the internet for a week and see what it does.