Hacker Hunters
BusinessWeek has a special report on the FBI's takedown of cybercrime organization Shadowcrew, in October of last year. Shadowcrew was an organization that operated on the internet, specializing in "identity theft, bank account pillage, and the fencing of ill-gotten wares on the Web." They had members in the thousands, spread across the world, and organized online in a strict hierarchy. Organized crime has gone global, exploiting information technology for their profits.
Shadowcrew's demise came at the hand of a gang member turned snitch. The law was hot on the trail -- surprisingly, collaborating across jurisdictions -- but still, the web allows for a level of anonymity that needed to be cracked. The aid of the snitch allowed the FBI to create VPN for Shadowcrew, thereby having all their traffic routed through the FBI's systems. It was analogous to an old fashion wiretap. It was high tech meet old fashion tactics, and it made a public dent in the $17.5 billion organized crime business.
Although the FBI is being very public with this bust -- trying hard to send a message to the crooks -- they're still fighting an up hill battle. 1) Cybercrime is global, and law enforcement from the West is up against the uncooperation of many countries -- especially Russia, which is holding on to a cold-war mentality in protecting even its criminals from US justice. 2) Law enforcement needs to beef up their resources -- they're still struggling to chase the criminals. Legislatures still have to take cybercrime serious enough to spend money. 3) The laws still haven't caught up with the internet. On one hand, laws seem to go too far and bring the internet, especially commerce, to a grinding halt -- and on the other hand, are too relaxed, and are exploited by the criminals.
I posted about this case last month after reading a similar special report in Baseline magazine. This article is still an interesting read, and reveals some more aspects of the case.
One bone that I do have to pick with the article is the misuse of the word hacker. It's just reenforcing the misconception of hackers out there. Hackers are not criminals. It would be like labeling Spitzer's gang as CFO Hunters, as they takedown corporate criminals -- but we don't, because we know that not all CFO's are criminals. Criminals are criminals. Hackers are hackers. I didn't expect BusinessWeek to be that ignorant.
Shadowcrew's demise came at the hand of a gang member turned snitch. The law was hot on the trail -- surprisingly, collaborating across jurisdictions -- but still, the web allows for a level of anonymity that needed to be cracked. The aid of the snitch allowed the FBI to create VPN for Shadowcrew, thereby having all their traffic routed through the FBI's systems. It was analogous to an old fashion wiretap. It was high tech meet old fashion tactics, and it made a public dent in the $17.5 billion organized crime business.
Although the FBI is being very public with this bust -- trying hard to send a message to the crooks -- they're still fighting an up hill battle. 1) Cybercrime is global, and law enforcement from the West is up against the uncooperation of many countries -- especially Russia, which is holding on to a cold-war mentality in protecting even its criminals from US justice. 2) Law enforcement needs to beef up their resources -- they're still struggling to chase the criminals. Legislatures still have to take cybercrime serious enough to spend money. 3) The laws still haven't caught up with the internet. On one hand, laws seem to go too far and bring the internet, especially commerce, to a grinding halt -- and on the other hand, are too relaxed, and are exploited by the criminals.
I posted about this case last month after reading a similar special report in Baseline magazine. This article is still an interesting read, and reveals some more aspects of the case.
One bone that I do have to pick with the article is the misuse of the word hacker. It's just reenforcing the misconception of hackers out there. Hackers are not criminals. It would be like labeling Spitzer's gang as CFO Hunters, as they takedown corporate criminals -- but we don't, because we know that not all CFO's are criminals. Criminals are criminals. Hackers are hackers. I didn't expect BusinessWeek to be that ignorant.
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