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Inside the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit

Posted by timothy on from the private-justice dept.

Trailrunner7 writes "The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit has been spearheading botnet takedowns and other anti-cybercrime operations for many years, and it has had remarkable success. But the cybercrime problem isn't going away anytime soon, so the DCU is in the process of building a new cybercrime center here, and soon will roll out a new threat intelligence service to help ISPs and CERT teams get better data about ongoing attacks. Dennis Fisher sat down with TJ Campana, director of security at the DCU, to discuss the unit's work and what threats could be next on the target list."

11 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a minute by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is this an article about how the Windows 8 UI was designed?

    1. Re:Wait a minute by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not to worry, somebody already modded it with a "Troll", which is even funnier...

  2. Re:This is rather disconcerting. by recoiledsnake · · Score: 2

    I want to know exactly what idiot gave Microsoft the authority to create a law enforcement unit other than their jackbooted licensing audit thugs from the Business Software Alliance.

    Needs a judge's approval.

    But we’re very careful about how we do this. We’re not just going out there shooting stuff. We walk in with a pile of legal documents. We’re asking for a judge to agree with what we found.

    --
    This space for rent.
  3. When are they going to arrest... by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... the Windows development team for allowing such a security swiss cheese of an operating system to escape from the lab and the marketing team for trying to sell to innocent consumers?

    1. Re:When are they going to arrest... by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Informative

      Isn't almost every single instance of Android malware a Trojan? In the case of Windows, for years a large percentage was drive-by exploits of IE, ActiveX, and just about every other part of the system.

    2. Re:When are they going to arrest... by lgw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Are you still going on about pre-Vista Windows? Let it go man, let it go.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  4. "remarkable success" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You mean how they play whack-a-mole with botnets and claim victory when they accidentally hit one, but stay curiously mum when the very same botnet pops up again only two weeks later?

    N'mind that they've been criminally lax in improving their software, creating a very easily planted very fertile ground for an entire flora and fauna of malware to grow and prosper in the first place. They created this "ecosystem" on a much grander scale than this "remarkable success" in taking down little pieces of it, for a short while.

    1. Re:"remarkable success" by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      Because what was wanted was to prevent drive by installs and that sort of thing. Secure boot is a whole other kettle of fish.

      It is about letting MS and the MPAA own your machine, security is only a side effect.

  5. I was going to say by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 3, Funny

    that the great digital crime of recent note was Windows 8, but I've been beaten to the punch, several times already.

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
  6. Re:Windows RT by recoiledsnake · · Score: 2

    Yet Apple gets a free pass on iPads, same with firms such as Motorola. How much is WindowsRT selling and how much of a threat is it to freedom compared to the iPad?

    --
    This space for rent.
  7. Re: This is rather disconcerting. by hAckz0r · · Score: 2
    No. Its all about the appearance of being proactive as to minimize their legal liability. Face it, its cheeper than the alturnative.

    If they really wanted to 'stop crime' as their top objective they could just make a more secure product, starting by ejecting all the useless legacy code that lets the bad guys win without hardly trying. Its hard to make a secure design starting from a block of swiss cheese. There are more things they could do to make crime harder than I could ever possibly list in this limited space.