Irked By Cyberspying, Georgia Outs Russia-based Hacker

coondoggie writes "In one of the photos, the dark-haired, bearded hacker is peering into his computer's screen, perhaps puzzled at what's happening. Minutes later, he cuts his computer's connection, realizing he has been discovered. In an unprecedented move, the country of Georgia — irritated by persistent cyber-spying attacks — has published two photos of a Russia-based hacker who, the Georgians allege, waged a persistent, months-long campaign that stole confidential information from Georgian government ministries, parliament, banks and NGOs."

Comments

lol georgia

[Alex Belits]

pwnt

Re:lol georgia

[Anonymous Coward]

Story says hacker knew he was hacked after 10 minutes. How does that explain two pictures different angles one shirt less.

Why would Georgia admit to it?

Re:lol georgia

[wonkey_monkey]

Story says hacker knew he was hacked after 10 minutes. How does that explain two pictures different angles one shirt less.

It's a well-known and interesting fact that hackers can move their laptops and put on a shirt in less than five minutes.

Re:lol georgia

[frosty_tsm]

My worry is what did the web cam capture between shots when he stood to get a shirt.

Re:lol georgia

[lightknight]

Does using a trojan count as hacking? I can't keep up with things these days.

Still the part where the 'hacker' downloads an executable file, and runs it...that's weak sauce. One, it tells us he's probably running Windows. Two, it shows he is an idiot: what 'hacker' blindly runs an executable file, even one given to him by 'friends'?

See, if the 'authorities' had managed to capture an image of him by pulling apart a botnet client, tracing the originating command server through several wayward paths, spelunking their way up the internet one router at a time until they found the source of the packets containing a fraudulant origin IP address, then exploited a weakness on a service running on a common port that wasn't patched / no one knew about, then turned on his webcam to grab a photo or two of him while quietly copying evidence off his machine, I'd be inclined to say "GG" and award some finger-snaps for one-upping someone on their own battlefield.

But using social engineering on someone running a common operating system, someone without the common sense inherent in a level one helldesk operator (do not run unknown executables)...I mean, he doesn't even fire up a VM and lock it off the internet before running the thing? Does anyone actually think this guy was anything more than, at best, a script kiddy, and at worst, a pawn?

If this is the best news that they can put out these days regarding their capture of 'cyber-criminals,' there either aren't any, or they're getting schooled.

Here's a hint for understanding power in the virtual realm -> if you need to work with others to achieve something, or need to get a judge to sign off on something, you're doing it wrong. If you need to call up a Bell to run a data tap to find the equivalent of the opportunistic thief robbing a 7-11...then you don't know enough about technology to 'fight' effectively.

Re:lol georgia

[sarysa]

More importantly, why would this professional, master neo-KGB hacker expose his camera like that? I'm a nobody but even I've heard of masking tape.

Re:lol georgia

[Gaian-Orlanthii]

My Dad was reading some of those old 1990's cyber-spy-crime-somethinginternet novels recently (think 'Len Deighton' approved, etc.).

He put down one of the books one day and asked me: "How the hell could someone hack into the CIA??" and I said, "Dad, that was like, 30 years ago. Facebook knows more about your life now than the KGB could ever have."

He acted like he knew what I was talking about and continued reading. Later on, he asked me why Virtual Reality hadn't been used in the Gulf War because that would surely have saved lives.

*sigh*

Re:lol georgia

[Anonymous Coward]

futher more, some cameras come with little bilt in cover for lences. use it only when you need it... or a phisical switch.

Re:lol georgia

[mgt]

One: what difference does it make if he runs Windows or not? Would he be more eligible to be a hacker if he was running AmigaOS or BeOS or what are you trying to say?

Two: The article did not say anything about running a executable file. It said he had downloaded a zip file called ""Georgian-Nato Agreement.", not that the zip contained exe's. There are other files than just executables that can contain malicious code, for example the guy himself is supposed to have used XDP files.

Re:lol georgia

[hairyfish]

Here's a hint for understanding power in the virtual realm -> if you need to work with others to achieve something, or need to get a judge to sign off on something, you're doing it wrong. If you need to call up a Bell to run a data tap to find the equivalent of the opportunistic thief robbing a 7-11...then you don't know enough about technology to 'fight' effectively.

You missed the part about having to wear a long black leather trench coat. Everyone knows that all the leet h@xx0rz all wear trench coats.

Re:lol georgia

[Anonymous Coward]

> I'm a nobody

You would say that, would you? Say if you were a Master Neo-KGB hacker who knows how to use masking tape, right?

Re:lol georgia

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, this post is so full of BS I don't know where to begin. I can't believe people are wasting mod points on this crap. If you are swallowing any of the nonsense in the parent, then you don't know enough about technology to "detect bullshit" effectively.

Re:lol georgia

[lightknight]

Except that the post is fairly accurate. Operational security is considered a big aspect of the h@x0r culture; the higher up you go, the more operational security they tend to use.

What part of that is BS? Or, as I suspect, with no ID and no evidence to counter my argument, you are purely a troll.

Re:lol georgia

[lightknight]

Does it matter that he's running Windows? Perhaps not. Does it cast doubt on whether this 31337 h@x0r was anything more than a script kiddie acting on the orders of someone else / using someone else's software? Yes.

Honestly, I do not understand why some people seem to think that to be a cracker, you must be an idiot with a flaw. As in, "despite working with dangerous code on a daily basis, no cracker would ever run untrusted code inside a VM with no ports to the internet." That it's all just some form of autism that grants them the ability to do incredible things in the virtual realm, and their below human IQ outside that realm that has them constantly getting caught. In short, you're talking about the existence of something that can't readily exist, and certainly wouldn't in any great quantity. It's too lopsided, you'd need an invisible hand working tirelessly to just to maintain the state necessary for keep them like that. As Ford Prefect, in the HHGTTG, said, "No way a civilization goes from having the plans for a spacecraft to launching one within a year; no one, no matter how motivated, does that; show it to me, and I still won't believe it."

And the part where h@x0rs get nailed by downloading / receiving a file from a 'friend'? Are we stuck in a time loop? Either they don't read the news on how any of their peers are getting caught / have gotten caught for the last two decades, or this story is purely dressed up for the press.

A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can somebody help me out here? Since the title of this submission has "hacker" in it, I thought it'd be about some guy who does cool stuff with hardware, or somebody who has been writing some intense open source software. But I don't see any of that here. Is this submission actually discussing a "cracker", rather than a "hacker"?

Re:A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[Anonymous Coward]

I had the same eye-twitching reaction, but I fear we lost that battle 20 years ago.

Anyway, with the word "cracker" in the headline people might have mistakenly assumed it was about the American state.

Re:A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[TapeCutter]

Words are often meaningless without context, a 'cracker' could be..

In the UK, something really good, as in "she's a cracker".
Short hand for 'firecracker'.
Someone who breaks computer security.
Someone who can open a safe without the combination.
Something to do with an american state, not sure what?.

Re:A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[Opyros]

Something to do with an american state

A Georgia cracker; so did you do that on purpose?

Re:A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[Anonymous Coward]

This cracker had a beard so the source of confusion is obvious.

Re:A "hacker" or a "cracker"?

[TapeCutter]

No and thanks, I honestly had no idea what the GP was talking about, I was born in Manchester in the UK so already knew what the word "craic" means. ;)

Hell, here we go again:

[vikingpower]

Georgia recently provoked war with Russia. Couldn't win. Now they are trying it this way. Won't win either. It's hard to be a former Soviet SSR and trying to get out of Moscow's gravity, ain't it ?

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[Anonymous Coward]

Except it was the other way around - russkies wanted their colonies back. And speaking of escaping the gravity well, Estonia seems to be in the clear. Good on them!

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[TapeCutter]

Anonymous americans will swallow anything and then regurgitate it as fact. Georgia attacked the Russkies at the border, the Russkies chased them all the way back to the capital. If they "wanted their colonies back" they could easily have stomped the capital there and then and made the case that it was for their own defence. But that's not what happened, having marched to the city limits of the capital they had proved their point to the world and reiterated that point by simply walking away.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[tlambert]

It was separatists, not the Georgian military, and it happened after a long list of provocations by Russia involving Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 2008, Russia shot down a Georgian drone over Abkhazia, which they did not technically have the right to do, as it was part of Georgia. Things got worse from there.

Here's the Wikipedia account; start your editors!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Georgia–Russia_crisis

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[TapeCutter]

Agree, there's was a lot more to it than a summary of my recollections, when all's said and done Georgia is just another pawn in the Caspian sea oil wars being fought between the big boys.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[shutdown -p now]

Russia shot down a Georgian drone.

Georgia shelled the Russian peacekeeper force barracks, killing several dozen people. And that was a detour - primarily, they were indiscriminately shelling residential blocks of Tskhinval.

Those are totally two comparable "provocations".

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[tlambert]

"Tskhinval or Ch'reba; Russian: ()), is the capital of South Ossetia, a disputed region which has been recognised as an independent Republic by Russia and another four UN members, and is regarded by Georgia and all other UN member states de jure as a region within Georgian sovereign territory."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tskhinvali

Perhaps you should shell a barracks when a foreign power builds one in one of your cities. At least according to the 189 of the 193 members of the UN who agree that Ossetia is part of Georgia. I'm pretty sure if Mexico built a barracks in San Antonio Texas, if they didn't leave, we'd shell it too.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[alphatel]

I am amazed that anyone would see Russia as non-provacative in this situation. The region, Ossetia which is in Georgia, is separated by the equivalent of the Himalyas from Russia. This region is called The Caucas Mountains, as in Caucasian where most fair-skinned people get their classification. These are tall, year-long snow-capped mountains, that the Russians walked over with a few troops of tanks. The UN concluded that Russia's goal was the succession of Ossetia and Abkhazia as an attempt to force Georgia into a "peace" agreement where they recognize these territories as independent.

You know how that works with people like Putin in power right? Shortly after these territories gain their independence, they sign an agreement to "join" the USSR, thereby cutting old Georgia in half. If anyone could implement a diabolical peace plan that starts with tanks it would be these guys.
That's what I call "passive-aggressive"..

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[Anonymous Coward]

So what you're saying is even your own summary is woefully inaccurate and exacerbates a situation that is already widely misunderstood? Thanks so much.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[ak3ldama]

No, no, you see: he used the words "Russian peacekeeper force" so, you know, that changes everything!

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[Ogi_UnixNut]

The Russians are only following what the EU/America did 10 years earlier to Serbia (Considered an ally of Russia). I strongly suspect that the reason the EU/US didn't protest much was due to the fact they didn't have a leg to stand on (don't throw rocks from glass houses and all that).

The west Annexes part of a Russian ally, Russia annexes part of a Western Ally. Geopolitics at work, only the small countries and their peoples suffer.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[shutdown -p now]

"Tskhinval or Ch'reba; Russian: ()), is the capital of South Ossetia, a disputed region which has been recognised as an independent Republic by Russia and another four UN members, and is regarded by Georgia and all other UN member states de jure as a region within Georgian sovereign territory."

Kosovo was also "a region within Serbian sovereign territory", but when the Serbs started to wipe out the locals - which, according to you, they had full rights to, as a sovereign country - their whole country was pounded much worse than Georgia.

In any case, South Ossetia has already fought a war of independence in 1992, and has been de facto independent and running itself for 16 years before the Georgian tanks rolled the streets of its capital to "restore territorial integrity". For some mysterious reason, the locals were very unhappy about it. Maybe it's because they still remember Gamsakhurdia's talk of "Georgia for the Georgians" from the last war?

Perhaps you should shell a barracks when a foreign power builds one in one of your cities.

The foreign power in question built the barracks because it was part of a peacekeeping force that was officially accredited as such by the joint commission from all sides of the conflict after the last war. Said agreement was not formally withdrawn by Georgia until September, i.e. after the conflict. Ironically, the commander of the Georgian battalion of the same peacekeeping force received orders to participate in the take-over of the city (and carried them out).

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[shutdown -p now]

Those regions were already de facto independent ever since their last wars with Georgia have concluded in early 90s - just not recognized as such by most other countries.

Oh, and you do realize why Ossetians and Abkhazians fought for their independence even back then, right?

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[tlambert]

Kosovo was also "a region within Serbian sovereign territory", but when the Serbs started to wipe out the locals - which, according to you, they had full rights to, as a sovereign country - their whole country was pounded much worse than Georgia.

By "you", I assume you mean the US government, which I assure did not represent my personal views in the matter, and whose executive at the time was an asshole I voted against in the previous presidential election, right?

Get a grip: the US has an internal revolution every 4-8 years; we just do it peacefully, rather than by lobbing shells between the red and blue states. You might want to try it some time.

You guys really don't "get" Democracy yet, do you? So the majority of you elected an asshole, Gamsakhurdia. Georgia has Parliamentary elections every three years; ignore the inflammatory rhetoric from the asshole, and work to get a majority for some other party in the next election in 3 years. Problem solved.

The foreign power in question built the barracks because it was part of a peacekeeping force that was officially accredited as such by the joint commission from all sides of the conflict after the last war. Said agreement was not formally withdrawn by Georgia until September, i.e. after the conflict. Ironically, the commander of the Georgian battalion of the same peacekeeping force received orders to participate in the take-over of the city (and carried them out).

If you can't resolve the conflict internally, then an internally accredited peacekeeping force isn't going to be able to do it either. Appeal to the UN for intervent. There appear to be 189 countries willing to back that, including 3 of the 5 permanent UN security council members, and as of that date, 6 of the remaining 10 non-permanent serving members would probably voted for a resolution as well, if only to piss Putin off.

Yes, I understand the commonly held view that Russia pushes a lot of money into controlling the outcome of the elections in neighboring states - http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/1001/Beware-Russia-s-hand-in-elections-in-Georgia-Ukraine-Lithuania - but the answer to this is that you have to refuse to be bought, and call out those who are willing to accept the payola.

Re:Hell, here we go again:

[shutdown -p now]

By "you", I assume you mean the US government, which I assure did not represent my personal views in the matter, and whose executive at the time was an asshole I voted against in the previous presidential election, right?

By "you", I mean all the countries that raised the fuss about the conflict. These were mostly the same countries that directly participated in the military operation against Serbia back in the day, bombing their capital etc.

More specifically, by "you" I mean you in particular, since you've implied that Georgian Army shelling and assaulting an Ossetian city, indiscriminately targeting civilian objects, is a-ok because it is "within Georgian sovereign territory". That's a bullshit excuse, not really any different from Kosovo or Chechnya or Syria.

You guys really don't "get" Democracy yet, do you? So the majority of you elected an asshole, Gamsakhurdia. Georgia has Parliamentary elections every three years; ignore the inflammatory rhetoric from the asshole, and work to get a majority for some other party in the next election in 3 years. Problem solved.

I'm not a Georgian. Anyway, if you've actually read any links about the guy, your advice was about as good as the advice to not re-elect Hitler. It's no coincidence that Gamsakhurdia was eventually killed (or committed suicide) after fighting a civil war against the new government of his own country. He really was a madman, even his own people saw it eventually.

Furthermore, at the point when he was spouting "Georgia for the Georgians" - i.e. right before the first war in Ossetia - he still had considerable public support among Georgians themselves, which constitute the majority of "Greater Georgia". So what exactly were Ossetians to do? Stand back and let themselves be ethnically cleansed, because the majority voted in favor of that? That's your idea of democracy?

By the way, if you're so keen on democracy, I have to remind that, just as the Georgian parliament voted to separate from the USSR and form an independent republic, so did the South Ossetian parliament vote to separate from Georgia and form an independent republic. Surely either both of those were valid (on the basis of the right to national self-determination), or neither was? If you disagree, then explain how one is different from another, without resorting to the hypocritical "we always ran things around here as we wanted before the Ruskies came".

If you can't resolve the conflict internally, then an internally accredited peacekeeping force isn't going to be able to do it either.

Well, it worked for 16 years. Would have kept working beyond that if Saakashvili didn't decide that a nice little victory would do wonders to boost his standing among his (liberal, but also generally nationalist and irredentist) electorate.

HA HA

[Anonymous Coward]

Communist dirt bag Got caught with his shirt off.

The real story is they pawned him with porn lol

Gigantic applause for security practices...

[Anonymous Coward]

Once again, we can see how tremendously useful public servants have been in setting up secure systems, using secure OSes, good security practices, etc.

The infection vector was what? Some automatically run PDF shipped Base64-encoded in an XML file?

I mean. Like. Opening a PDF gets you rooted!?

Wow. Just wow.

But, hey, no problem... Because from TFA apparently some taxpayers money had been spend buying some local "Dr. Web" antivirus.

As long as people are going to consider it normal to be infected this way and find excuses like: "Things are complicated, PDF is needed and remote-root exploits opening a PDF are something very difficult to prevent" , we're gonna be in deep, deep shit.

Another Adobe exploit

[abirdman]

This looks like another Adobe exploit. Both the bad guy and the good guys used it. And when they infected Boris Badenoff's computer, they only took .doc's and not .pdf's. I wish I could be so selective.

Re:Another Adobe exploit

[TheGratefulNet]

I blame moose and squirrel.

Re:Another Adobe exploit

[Anonymous Coward]

How old are you? 14?

Tomorrow's news

[godel_56]

"Bearded man found shot dead in Russian apartment, found hunched over keyboard."

The Georgians don't mess around, any more than the Russkies do.

He'd better watch his back.

".

Re:Tomorrow's news

[zerro]

I was thinking the same thing. Another lone-wolf hacker ;)

If he has half a brain, he's trying to turn himself to the nearest NATO affiliated embassy. If not, he will shortly disappear.

In Soviet Russia, you get hacked.

Re:Tomorrow's news

[TheGratefulNet]

"that's the night
that the lights went out
in georgia..."

Re:Tomorrow's news

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would the Georgians publish his photo if they are planning to whack him? Shirley they would whack him first, then publish his photo "Look what happens to bad boys etc".

Re:Tomorrow's news

[Maow]

I don't know. If I were Russia, I'd simply deny all knowledge of the guy while doing my damnedest to keep him alive. Arresting him on some kind of charges comes to mind.

If I were Georgia, I'd publish his picture, make it a huge deal, then make sure the whole world found out he died in order to discourage new recruits.

If I were Russia, I wouldn't mind at all if he died - so he cannot expose any (more) secrets about his handlers, etc.

Re:Tomorrow's news

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly so. The fool is a liability now. Sucks to be him.

Re:Tomorrow's news

[VillageDolt]

We are not planning to whack him, and don't call me Shirley.

Politics are dirty

[epSos-de]

This guy looks Georgian to me. He could be a human rights activist who is now accused to be a spy. Politics are dirty and the truth is far from what the officials say in that part of the world.

Re:Politics are dirty

[m1ndcrash]

He doesn't look Slavic that's for sure.

Re:Politics are dirty

[shiftless]

Politics are dirty and the truth is far from what the officials say in that part of the world.

And that differs from this part of the world how?

YEAH BUT WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT GEORGIA ??

[Anonymous Coward]

If there is a cesspool of the world, Georgia is it !! You ever been to Sparta ?? It's the in-breeding centre of the world !!

Webcams

[girlintraining]

Public Service Announcement:
Don't hack with a web cam plugged in.

Re:Webcams

[zerro]

..... or microphone plugged in, or from your own pc, or from a non one way-terminal (like x/vnc), or open unknown target's docs on your own machine instead of a burnable vm, etc,....

Doesnt sound like a top-level professional, but the junior-grade trainee - probably taking orders from above.

Re:Webcams

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly if this guy wasn't hacking from via some node he pwned (or through several routed nodes) he's just a neophyte. Too bad he's good as dead now that the georgians are after him and the russians don't like failure.

Re:Webcams

[Mitreya]

Doesnt sound like a top-level professional, but the junior-grade trainee - probably taking orders from above.

Or, you know, also sounds like not a hacker at all.

What makes you think he's an actual hacker and not just someone who was a source of inconvenience for other reasons?

Re:Webcams

[zerro]

right. we dont.

Re:Webcams

[Anonymous Coward]

Electrical tape over the lense and a fan blowing into the mic.

Re:Webcams

[Errol backfiring]

Forgive me my Intercal, but PLEASE DO hack with your webcam plugged in. It's only fair to give your victim a change to hack back.

Carpet

[Psychotria]

I love the carpet on his ceiling. Not sure how easy it is to vacuum though. Also, have I seen that guy in a movie somewhere?

Re:Carpet

[zerro]

Borat's bumbling was just cover for a true-to-life Eastern European cyber-James-Bond?

uh, no...

Re:Carpet

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks more like pressed tin

Re:Carpet

[theshowmecanuck]

Probably embossed plaster or tin. In the old days people would do that in North America too. Not common, but not uncommon either. Matter of taste and location. Not so prevalent any more on this side of the ocean.

Re:Carpet

[Psychotria]

Looks more like pressed tin

Hmm. You might be right. Perhaps he added that as a comfort feature so that he could remove his tinfoil hat when indoors.

Re:Carpet

[Jafafa Hots]

It was not only common in the US in stores/markets, it was almost universal.
Barbers shop, shoe store, clothing store, diner, bar, all had pressed tin ceilings circa 1900.

Most are long since gone, You can still find some in historic downtown buildings in most cities.

Re:Carpet

[citizenr]

Also, have I seen that guy in a movie somewhere?

Edward Norton.

http://globalhiphopbattles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/edward-norton.jpg

Re:Carpet

[Anonymatt]

You know what, they install the tin ceiling stuff in almost every cheesy new bar around here.

Re:Carpet

[rxmd]

It's not carpet, they're styrofoam plates to imitate embossed plaster. You see that quite often in flats in Soviet-era prefab apartment blocks.

People used that sort of thing as part of low-to-medium-end remodels to individualize their flats a little bit, in particular in the 1990s, together with closing their balconies with masonry to get a little bit of extra (super-small) floor space, partly removing the inner wall sections to get a more individual layout, and moving the kitchens to the balcony to use the former kitchen as an extra room.

Re:Carpet

[ockegheim]

In Eastern Germany in 1995, I saw an ornately and tastefully decorated apartment inside a building with a soul-crushing grey exterior.

I also got a ride (over cobblestones) in a Trabi, since consigned to history.

Poor Sergei

[Anonymous Coward]

First his ARM got hacked..... then his legs and head!

Captcha: deterred

In Soviet Russia...

[H3GS]

...Computer Hacks You! Seriously loving the decor though.

bearded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when does having a mustache enough for one to be considered "bearded". As a bearded man myself I'm offended. lol

Re:bearded?

[Psychotria]

Since when does having a mustache enough for one to be considered "bearded". As a bearded man myself I'm offended. lol

I noticed that as well and the only reasonable conclusion is that the rest of his beard is invisible.

What's most surprising to me is the webcam

[Guru80]

How is that not the first thing removed if it isn't built-in or covered up with a piece of duct tape if it is? High skilled dumbass apparently.

Re:What's most surprising to me is the webcam

[GameboyRMH]

Most laptops have a hardwired LED that comes on when the camera is powered up. It gives you less than a second to get out of the way though.

Re:What's most surprising to me is the webcam

[Guru80]

Good ole piece of duct tape permanently over it renders it completely useless. I couldn't hack a machine to save my life but if I were going to be engaged in such things I've seen enough movies to know the good and/or bad guys always use your camera to watch you.

Rule of International Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't hack the country you're in. Russia has a history of excusing hackers who steal from other countries. You almost get congratulated if you steal and bring more money into the local economy. Even if they're upset, a lot of countries don't like to extradite.

Re:Rule of International Hacking

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact they can't extradite a Russian citizen by law - it's unconstitutional.

hacker should out all the nfo then

[Anonymous Coward]

just put all the nfo back out and see if georgia wants it seen.
OH and any self respecting hacker DOES NOT USE A WEBCAM
all known software for them makes you hackable
this guys a script kiddy

When did he move to Russia?

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't he realize their potassium is inferior to Kazakhstan's potassium?

Re:When did he move to Russia?

[GameboyRMH]

And they only have the 3rd cleanest prostitutes in the region.

Spy?

[Hentes]

Doesn't look like a government agency to me, although it's possible that the guy works from home.

Atlanta was never the same...

[Anonymous Coward]

After Sherman burned the hacker, err, Atlanta burned the hacker. GTFO of Georgia!

Georgia outs bad Russia-based hacker

[dgharmon]

"This guy had high-class skills", Gurgenidze said

I don't think so ...
--

'The accounts are encrypted with a 1024 bit cipher. Even I can't break through the fire wall', Swordfish

Re:Georgia outs bad Russia-based hacker

[Anonymous Coward]

Quote from the first episode of The IT Crowd :

Denholm: I'm gonna put you in I.T. because you said on your CV you have a lot of experience with computers.

Jen: I did say that on my CV, yes. I have a lot of experience with the whole computer thing you know, emails, sending emails, receiving emails, deleting emails, I could go on.

Denholm: Do.

Jen: The web. Using a mouse, mices, using mice. Clicking, double clicking. The computer screen, of course. The keyboard. The... bit that goes on the floor down there.

Denholm: The hard drive.

Jen: Correct.

Denholm: Well, you certainly seem to know your stuff. That's settled. I've got a good feeling about you Jen and they need a new manager.

Big Hit

[__aaqvdr516]

He should have used the phone buster buster.

Re:Big Hit

[Anonymous Coward]

Trace buster buster.
Get it right or don't.

When do we start seeing deaths?

[PerlPunk]

I would think that at some point we are going to see intelligence agencies start to send hit teams to kill hackers. It has probably already happened but we haven't seen headlines for it.

Borat!

[sycodon]

I want to make love explo....

ahhh...fuck it. time for bed. I have web apps to write tomorrow.

Infected through a ZIP file?

[hazeii]

From the story:

>On that computer, they placed a ZIP archive entitled "Georgian-Nato Agreement." He took the bait, which caused the investigators' own spying program to be installed.

Elite, wasn't he? Infected by a ZIP file...hmm.

subject

[Legion303]

He should have bounced his connection through InterNIC and then erased the logs.

Script Kiddie != Hacking

[firesyde424]

If running a premade script and following instructions someone else wrote makes me a hacker, does that mean I can go buy a toy store chemistry set, perform a few preset experiments and call myself a chemist?

Re:Script Kiddie != Hacking

[GameboyRMH]

No but you could call yourself a terrorist.