Slashdot Mirror
The Mob's IT Department
An anonymous reader writes: An article at Bloomberg relates the story of two IT professionals who reluctantly teamed up with an organized criminal network in building a sophisticated drug smuggling operation. "[The criminals were] clever, recruiting Van De Moere and Maertens the way a spymaster develops a double agent. By the time they understood what they were involved in, they were already implicated." The pair were threatened, and afraid to go to the police. They were asked to help with deploying malware and building "pwnies" — small computers capable of intercepting network traffic that could be disguised as power strips and routers. In 2012, authorities lucked into some evidence that led them to investigate the operation. "Technicians found a bunch of surveillance devices on [the network of large shipping company MSC]. There were two pwnies and a number of Wi-Fi keyloggers—small devices installed in USB ports of computers to record keystrokes—that the hackers were using as backups to the pwnies. MSC hired a private investigator, who called PricewaterhouseCoopers' digital forensics team, which learned that computer hackers were intercepting network traffic to steal PIN codes and hijack MSC's containers."
You've never imagined having a gun to your kids' head, have you?
life > illegality
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Have you ever lived anywhere where there was a significant mob presence?
I haven't, and for good reason.
Your plan is a really great plan if you assume that the mob has absolutely no penetration whatsoever into the local police department.
I don't know why you'd assume such a stupid thing, though.
So here is how your suggestion really goes.
You walk into the local PD. On your way there, some kid recognized your face. He has instructions that say that if he sees a guy who looks like you walking into the police station, he calls a number and gets a bonus.
When you come home, something is different. Either your family is already dead, or, there's a note that makes it clear that your family is vulnerable and that you've fucked up - but there is still a chance to not get your family killed. Who knows what the knob is set at for the "first contact" - but there's a clear indication that you don't want to continue talking to the police.
Now, if someone inside that building is actually connected - and usually, somebody is - maybe they're the person who interviewed you. Maybe they're the person who looks at the signin/signout sheet at the station. Maybe they are somebody who files paperwork or types things up for other people.
Zillions of little people are needed to make the machine of government operate, and the mob targets precisely those people to be their eyes and ears. It uses combinations of carrots and sticks to keep them cooperating with mob goals, without letting them get too familiar with what those goals are or who is executing them.
Point is, if the mob has any power in your city, that includes eyes and ears within, or effectively within, the police department.
Part of the mob's effectiveness is that it destroys trust in the normal functioning institutinos of society. You never know for sure who is and isn't. It effectively isolate frightened individuals from the facets of society that might help or protect them. It always makes it seem like it's 1 person against the entire mob - it paints that same picture to lots of separate people.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Now, at my new job, I get to experience the joys of a locked down laptop that requires an RSA secrurid to log into the network, web is locked down, and no read/write access on the usb ports.
Just as an FYI, if a company is going to restrict local I/O resources to and from a computer, then using a computer is the wrong tool; they should be using thin-clients to a terminal server of some sort.
Life is not for the lazy.
You've never imagined having a gun to your kids' head, have you?
life > illegality
No... But this is NOT the movies or TV. Nobody was being held captive, they had their personal cell phones, cars, homes and where freely walking around. Nobody had a gun to their head 24/7...
Surely there was a time and opportunity to make a move to reach out to authorities, make a phone call, send an E-mail or two, or get somebody in your family to help you. This went on for MONTHS.... Surely there was a number of possible exit ramps one could have taken. Heck, they claim to have had enough time to discuss and implement ways to disrupt what was going on. They had time and opportunity to get out if they wanted too.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
You walk into the local PD.
Walk. How 20th Century.
You establish some anonymous communications with FBI/CBP/etc. (or your nation's equivalent) at their HQ. Not the local police department on the Texas-Mexico border. The latter have mostly been pwned by the drug lords. So you exchange public keys with the FBI and establish yourself as an unwilling insider. You set up a deal for immunity and a contact name and pass phrase that you can drop when the DEA storms the facility and hauls everyone out (including yourself) in handcuffs when the gang is busted. Until then, nobody needs to know who you are. If talk inside the gang turns toward looking for a snitch, you can always go silent if it looks like your law enforcement contact might have been dirty. And at this point, nobody will know who you are IRL.
If there is a leak in HQ and you or your family end up dead, you can arrange a 'dead man switch' on a server that forwards all your correspondence to the New York Times, Guardian, Wikileaks, and anyone else willing to print an expose on corrupt law enforcement in bed with the mob.
Have gnu, will travel.