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FBI Says They're Now Working 24/7 To Investigate Hackers and Network Attacks
An anonymous reader writes "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is finally stepping up its game when it comes to hackers. Maybe it was Anonymous that did it or maybe it was statements from the US Secretary of Defense two weeks ago, but either way, the FBI is now hunting hackers 24/7." I'm happy that the FBI no longer has an investigation schedule when it comes to online crime, but I have to think that I'm not the only one who assumed they were doing this before.
can we get a 24/7 task-force after rachel from card services?
Better yet, seal team six.
I've been noticing a downshift lately of spambot activity on my websites. Maybe this is why?
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
Since this is /., I am not quite sure how to react - perhaps someone will enlighten me?
Do we *like* the idea that a federal agency is taking online crime seriously and increasing its investigative efforts? Or do we decry even larger invasion of privacy by the lead-fisted government into private citizens lives? Assuming, of course, that any investigation of online crimes would have to at a very least get access to various online resources, logs and data, most likely not voluntarily shared by many parties who go to great lengths to be difficult to identify. You know what *that* means.
Unless the FBI's rate of doing good vs. harm in cybersecurity significantly improves, I think I would've preferred the old schedule. Not sure we need a 24/7 task force dedicated to extraditing filesharers from other countries.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I hope (vainly) that they are concentrating on real problems, like the DDoS attack on Callcentric. (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/CallCentric-Victim-of-Devastating-TwoWeek-DDoS-Attack-121667?r=0.832118027416197)
But their priorities are pobably set by the MAFIAA.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
The only mainstream hacking I ever hear about is usually "protest" hacking or "shock and awe" hacking against major organizations.
I really hope the FBI is focusing more on improving their own cyber warfare capability against countries such as China that may have insidious intentions for our vulnerabilities.
I mean, if Playstation Network gets hacked I guess its a sad day, but I really hope they're working above that level of hacking at this point.
Anonymous might put their Guy Fawkes masks on and you'd have a full-blown 8-person protest outside the Hoover building.
I guess I should turn myself in. I changed the ascii characters in my copy of DOS "mission imp" back in 1981. I only did it so my game would look cool and different. Leniency please!
Unless something ridiculous has changed, they've had agents dedicated to computer crime 24/7 for the last 20 years.
From personal experience.
The only thing in the article that's noteworthy is their shifting focus to rapid attribution. That's an incredibly difficult goal, especially given the laws regarding search and seizure. If anything raises a red flag for me, it's this. Historically law enforcement in general has always been behind due to the very nature of crime. With Internet related crime this issue is only amplified. I would love to know how they're getting around the red tape that has always slowed down investigations of this type.
all the open door system at financial institutions to keep out the hackers instead of having those institutions fix the issue?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I expect they'll release spyware into the wild so that they can track it to the nefarious types that use it. They'll figure out where it went when someone dies. That's how this shit works, isn't it?
I think the FBI should be spending it's time on internal government corruption.
Hello, you've reached the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If this call is cybercrime-related, please call back during business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard time, Monday through Friday. If this call is related to a non-cybercrime investigation, please press "1" now for an agent. If this call is related to bizarre serial killers or UFO phenomena, please press "2" now for our X-files division. Or press "0" for an operator at any time.
No need to leave a callback number, we already know who you are.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
>> the FBI is now hunting hackers 24/7
Is that because we finally figured out what happened in Benghazi?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444620104578008922056244096.html
How 'bout we figure out who let Sean Smith down first, eh?
All I can say now is, "BUY shares in powered donut stocks, BUY, BUY, BUY!"
that this will be almost as effective as the War On Drugs. At least for getting the FBI more funding and more power to ignore/violate/destroy civil liberties.
Notice to screw-ups, midnight to 8 am shifts have now opened up in hacker hunting squad. Get your act together or you will be assigned.
They aren't "people". They are "foreign nationals". Please get your terminology straight.
hmm... all this time I thought the NSA was the secret police in this nation.
The problem with every law enforcement agency, FBI included, is that they have an extremely geek-hostile culture. Could you imagine any red-blooded hacker doing work for and at the FBI, while at the same time being forced to wear those ugly black suits, tie, etc., and bow to the will of seriously brain dead lawyers higher up in the hierarchy? Sure, with some serious pay, the FBI could attract some average security professionals, but the real hackers, those with the required skills and mentality, would stay light years away of any bureaucratic organization, unless temporarily for the purpose of penetrating its internal structures for fun and profit.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Like the printing press, government is both a benefit and a hazard. Taking down mafia style botnets and guarding against attacks on our interconnected and networked physical infrastructure is a good thing. Using the Patriot Act to snoop on our communications looking for keywords or suspicious activities is a bad thing. How this evolves requires constant monitoring by an informed voting populace.
Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
There is a lot that is thought to be unknown about the NSA. The running joke for the longest of time was that NSA stood for No Such Agency. It wasn't until relatively recently (1990s) the government commonly acknowledged it existed as a real agency. It was created by a memo to the director of the CIA, so for a while, it might not have legitimately existed as a government agency.
Part of their tasks besides cypher makers/breakers, is signals intelligence including covert operations in order to secure points of listening for foreign and terrorist entities (ivory bell for instance). They have been dispatched as parts of several different organizations at the same time while operating on their own independent organization possibly leading to confusion to what they actually do. This combined with the the agency largely being hidden/not widely known about is probably why there is so much mystery and conspiracy surrounding it (there is a lot of conspiracy). A lot of that has been debunked and a lot has been ignored and a lot is pure fiction created for artistic references in movies and books.
I was hoping people would get the No Such Agency reference as it is now a widely known secrete agency.
I wish they'd ignore some of the script kiddies vandalizing web pages and focus some of their resources on the "Epidemic of Fraud"(2003 FBI report) in the mortgage and financial markets. Maybe they could initiate some RICO investigations of the big banks due to the banks' well reported practice of forging and improperly notarizing thousands of lost note affidavits.