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Shaming Russia Into Action On Cyber Crime

Posted by Soulskill on from the stand-in-the-corner-until-you're-sorry dept.

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?'"

5 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Just tell me... by bitrex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

    I don't come to Slashdot for these kind of thought-provoking rhetorical questions about ethical and legal gray areas! Just tell me who the goodies and the baddies are! Go USA hacker-hunters, wooo!

  2. Re:I hate to say this. by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because someone in Russia can get the real IP's and real names for say a Texas lawyer, UK law professor or fortune 500 insider?
    Over a few years a Russia can drop the addicted westerner a visit and remind them of their weekend web use.
    For a few easy, small tasks, it can all be contained.
    The East German's did this with West German's who had interesting pasts in WW2.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Re:I hate to say this. by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Russian side is an unknown, shared files, shared sites, no profit, for profit, same site, resold under 10 different names?
    The real number is western credit card use.
    Real people buying their way in, thinking the credit card companies would just pass details on as another transaction and the East bloc providers would keep details safe on a HD, connected to username, pw.
    So you have 10000 card names in need of pics and vids via 1 site?
    All the FSB can do is sort, who is a Dr, grad student who might run a department one day, lawyer, the secretary ect.
    Then work out who is in a position to help long term.
    A journalist who can get a few positive lines or negative lines in print.
    Help with R and D, source code, insider trading, a copy of every document or get a Russian sleeper set up long term.
    Russia plays long term with people.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  4. Re:Blackhole all of Russia by RCL · · Score: 2, Interesting
    You seem to overestimate the power of our (Russian) government. Asking them to "fix" cyber crime is essentially the same as asking them to make Russia a developed country. They cannot do that just by issuing some law.

    Russian cyber crime is rooted in:
    • Poor and passive population
    • Nascent IT industry
    • Weak (or even lack of) law enforcement

    I'm afraid that you cannot set any reasonable deadline for a government to fix those problems. If you really wanted to fight cybercrime, you'd be engaged yourself (one who is not willing seeks excuses, one who is, seeks possibilities). But from what you say, you prefer just hiding from Russians and Chineese. Too bad, we can still read you (I'm abroad) :P

    --
    Coding etudes
  5. Re:no update for Windows, or "bad" people in the E by Archon-X · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know anything about your background or travels, but I find the picture that you paint of russia contrasts strongly with that of what I've seen.

    Bear in mind that Moscow has been the world's most expensive city to live in for multiple consecutive years now [ 1 2 ]

    What you seem to be regurgitating in your post is rhetoric, which you've taken it upon yourself to extrapolate wildly.

    There are multiple vectors for disassembling your post, but the most obvious ones are:

    So what have we got? Millions and millions of PCs, which run OS that cannot be patched or updated. So, guess what, these millions PCs neither patched, not updated.

    The last check of google reports over 194,000 hits for WGA cracks [3].

    I'd love to see the data behind your bold claim, in which you plead ignorance, but continue to fabricate 'statistics'.

    A lot of computers in Russia run cracked version of Windows. I do not know the exact figure, but I would think 99%.

    On a closing note, I'm amazed noone else has yet flamed you for posting:

    When I try to use an alternative OS, like Linux, a lot of scanners, USB devices, video-cards, etc. just do not work, as drivers either non-existent or bad, made by rear-engineering. Because the hardware vendors provide drivers only for 1 and only OS.

    Maybe you should do some research in general, and pay a visit to distrowatch...