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After Links To Cybercrime, Latvian ISP Cut Off

Posted by timothy on from the people-interpret-jerks-as-damage-and-route-around-them dept.

alphadogg writes with this Network World story, excerpting "A Latvian ISP linked to online criminal activity has been cut off from the Internet, following complaints from Internet security researchers. Real Host, based in Riga, Latvia was thought to control command-and-control servers for infected botnet PCs, and had been linked to phishing sites, Web sites that launched attack code at visitors and were also home to malicious 'rogue' antivirus products, according to a researcher using the pseudonym Jart Armin, who works on the Hostexploit.com Web site. 'This is maybe one of the top European centers of crap,' he said in an e-mail interview. 'It was a cesspool of criminal activity,' said Paul Ferguson, a researcher with Trend Micro."

4 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. They'll move elsewhere by Canazza · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The questions that should be asked is "Are they closing in on the criminals who set up these sites?"

    Surely with all the information they can get from this rogue ISP they can track down the wankers who run them.

    --
    It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    1. Re:They'll move elsewhere by Zocalo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Probably not. The ISP in question, Real Host, appears to have only had a single upstream to the Internet via the Scandinavia ISP TeliaSonera and it was TeliaSonera being threatened with sanctions if they continued to provide connectivity to Real Host that resulted in the disconnection. Chances are that the operators behind Real Host (there is evidence to suggest at least some are ex-RBN staffers) are looking for other ISPs to provide them connectivity at this moment and Real Host with be coming to an Internet Sewer near you Real Soon.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    2. Re:They'll move elsewhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Thing is rogue antivirus products and such isn't exactly illegal. In USA it can count as misleading advertisement but as we know USA laws dont apply everywhere. This case also is not police investigation, but their upstream provider TeliaSonera just cut them off because it made them look bad.

      We demand net neutrality for pirates and defend laws of other countries. Now botnets and phishing are really bad, but instead of getting to root of the problem these security researchers are purposely destroying net neutrality. TeliaSonera is also upstream provider for The Pirate Bay so they could just suddenly cut TPB's access to the internet. Then everyone would be saying how they're legal in Sweden and they should not be allowed to do that. Well, its the same issue here.

    3. Re:They'll move elsewhere by AigariusDebian · · Score: 5, Informative

      That is not net neutrality.

      If you connect to the Internet you are an equal peer on it - you can receive and send data. You have the right to set up services just like bbc.co.uk can. If your ISP cuts you connection without a court order (a court that has jurisdiction over you), then it is a violation of net neutrality.

      Traffic shaping based on the destination (or source) of the traffic is also a violation of net neutrality, traffic shaping to prioritize some protocols over others is not (unless a phone company reduces the priority of all VoIP traffic to zero).