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Dutch Developer Added Backdoor To Websites He Built, Phished Over 20,000 Users (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the bolting-to-the-door dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: A Dutch developer illegally accessed the accounts of over 20,000 users after he allegedly collected their login information via backdoors installed on websites he built. According to an official statement, Dutch police officials are now in the process of notifying these victims about the crook's actions. The hacker, yet to be named by Dutch authorities, was arrested on July 11, 2016, at a hotel in Zwolle, the Netherlands, and police proceeded to raid two houses the crook owned, in Leeuwarden and Sneek. According to Dutch police, the 35-years-old suspect was hired to build e-commerce sites for various companies. After doing his job, the developer also left backdoors in those websites, which he used to install various scripts that allowed him to collect information on the site's users. Police say that it's impossible to determine the full breadth of his hacking campaign, but evidence found on his laptop revealed he gained access to over 20,000 email accounts. Authorities say the hacker used his access to these accounts to read people's private email conversations, access their social media profiles, sign-up for gambling sites with the victim's credentials, and access online shopping sites to make purchases for himself using the victim's funds.

20 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are two kinds of people in this world I hate.

    Those that are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.

  2. Why not name him? by haruchai · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He's been in custody for over 6 months and is not a minor so why keep his name a secret?

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    1. Re:Why not name him? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Dutch never reveal the names of the accused, even after they are found guilty after trial, has to do with the privacy laws.

    2. Re: Why not name him? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because he's not yet been found guilty, and some cultures take a more enlightened approach than others when it comes to destroying potentially innocent lives via the judicial system.

      Think he'd ever find work again, if found not guilty, but named all over Google anyway?

    3. Re:Why not name him? by Holi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wow, what's the recidivism rate in Europe compared to America? Yet you seem to think there system is worse then our lock up everyone we don't like policy.

      Sorry but an American critiquing anyone else's prison system is the height of hypocrisy.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    4. Re:Why not name him? by Desler · · Score: 4, Informative

      Considering the US has the highest recidivism rate, around 76%, in the world, the EU countries by definition are doing better. Norway, as an example, has the lowest recidivism rate, around 20%, in the world.

      http://www.businessinsider.com...

    5. Re:Why not name him? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

      Because nobody here can pronounce it.

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    6. Re:Why not name him? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 5, Informative

      As a devil's advocate, it can be argued that other than a direct victim or people who are affected by the criminal's actions, keeping the names of people arrested private isn't such a bad thing. It is a better system than here in the US where as soon as someone is booked, that info goes into hundreds of databases, and even if charges are dropped or the person is found innocent, the arrest record is still public, and can affect finding work in the future. It just might be that the public humiliation of having some peccadillo be forever branded into a person's virtual hide is far greater a punishment than the offense requires.

    7. Re:Why not name him? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Not really. Unless you want to detain him forever.

      Else you're one day going to release someone whose only possible career is one as a criminal. Is that what you want?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:Why not name him? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Considering the US has the highest recidivism rate, around 76%, in the world, the EU countries by definition are doing better. Norway, as an example, has the lowest recidivism rate, around 20%, in the world.

      Hey! We pour the most money into our prison system, so it must be the best.

      Sad to say, the get tough on crime crowd in conjunction with the war on drugs, has turned the US Prison system into insanity. Then there is the aspect of money, which in some cases gets you three months for sexual assault rape, http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/... versus getting 50 years for stealing a rack of ribs. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

      And yet, the people who think that what amounts to a life sentence for stealing food is a fine idea, almost universally don't want to pay for that incarceration.

      We're Kookoo for Cocoa-Puffs some times.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:Why not name him? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      That's what you get when you base your justice system on the idea of revenge.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re:Why not name him? by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because you want to be able to punish ex-criminals after he has received his punishment according to the law?
      If a criminal is released from prison, it should be assumed he won't commit crimes again.
      If you assume an ex-prisoner will commit crimes again, your prison system isn't working.

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    11. Re:Why not name him? by mwvdlee · · Score: 2

      You're asking the wrong question.
      Why ever release his name at all?

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    12. Re:Why not name him? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      That's where they go wrong. (seriously)

      With crime, criminality, and incarceration rates at a fraction of the USA, to borrow some popular culture references: if this is wrong I don't want to be right.

    13. Re:Why not name him? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      Hey! We pour the most money into our prison system, so it must be the best.

      Your prison companies will be happy to make your prison system even better by increasing their profit margins.

      Hard to imagine that people could not figure out that in a corporatocracy, that applting the profit motive to incarcerating humans would not lead to demands and baksheesh to incarderate more humans. If you have to make more profit every quarter, you need more prisoners, for longer periods of time. The most contradictory thing about that, is that you need to take care of the prisoners so that they live as long as possible, maximizing the profit per prisoner, while the get tough on crime crowd wants them all dead as soon as possible, so they pay as little as possible. Guess who wins?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    14. Re:Why not name him? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Dutch is easy- it's just German looking words pronounced as if they were English words. Dutch to me always sounded like "fake German" being spoken by an English speaker.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    15. Re:Why not name him? by gweihir · · Score: 3

      They don't. They just have realized, like any civilized country, that punishment is the task of the state and _nobody_ else. Hence they do not release names. This is actually pretty standard in Europe.

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    16. Re:Why not name him? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 3

      What wiggle room? The justice system here in the US is a meat grinder that destroys lives, even people who were innocent. Take NYC, for example. Someone gets arrested for jaywalking. Unless they bond out, they are going to be staying at Riker's for over a year until trial. Even after trial, if they are found lily-white innocent, their lives are ruined. They are most likely evicted, their job is long gone, and any vehicle they had is either repossessed or impounded and sold.

      What do we want in the US, a -justice- system, or a -revenge- system? A -justice- system is designed to ensure crimes are not repeated, and rehabilitation is part of that. What we have now is a -revenge- system. It is great if one likes watching people suffer, and great if you have private prison stock, but not if you have any ethics or a conscience. Yes, we need to lock up some people well away from society to keep the streets safe, but why should someone who was caught with a bag of marijuana be locked up for life, and even if they get released, will never be able to hold a meaningful job.

      I'd rather have my taxpayer dollars go for vocational rehab in prisons, so someone getting out has a chance of a job. This way, they can work, or even just cruise on welfare... both are cheaper on the taxpayer than locking them up in a private, for-profit prison for the rest of their life.

  3. Oh that is just textbook xkcd... by teslar · · Score: 4, Funny

    https://xkcd.com/792/

    1. Re:Oh that is just textbook xkcd... by ChoGGi · · Score: 2

      However, he reveals that "since March of 1997" he doesn't really believe in anything. This could possibly refer to the March 26, 1997 incident in San Diego, California, where 39 Heaven's Gate cultists committed mass suicide at their compound. It is a plausible explanation, since one of them was the brother of Nichelle Nichols (a Star Trek actress), so the event got a big resonance in nerd circles (and Randall often refers to Star Trek in xkcd). However, given Black Hat's strange behavior, it could be anything, even Bill Clinton banning federal funding for human cloning research.

      https://www.explainxkcd.com/wi...