FBI combat criminal hackers, fraud and abuse.
2005 FBI agent Daniel J. Larkin, a 20-year vet who heads up the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center, taps online service providers to help pierce the Web's veil of anonymity and track down criminal hackers. Leads supplied by the FBI and eBay Inc. (EBAY ). A. James Melnick, 51, director of threat intelligence at iDEFENSE, a Reston (Va.) cybersecurity firm.
The FBI and Secret Service, which received jurisdiction over financial crimes when it was part of the Treasury Dept., have even formed a joint cybercrime task force in Los Angeles. Prosecutors are starting to make aggressive use of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, which carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
The ShadowCrew was like an eBay for the underworld and led by Andrew Mantovani who was a part-time student at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona and David Appleyard a onetime mortgage broker who lived in Linwood, N.J., just outside of Atlantic City. This was a case seen as a model for taking the battle to the Black Hats. It was the first-ever tap of a private computer network under a 1968 crime act that set legal guidelines for wiretaps. "We became shadowcrew.com," says Nagel. The bust yielded a treasure trove of evidence. So far the Secret Service has uncovered 1.7 million credit-card numbers, access data to more than 18 million e-mail accounts, and identity data for thousands of people including counterfeit British passports and Michigan driver's licenses. They say the ShadowCrew pillaged more than a dozen companies, from MasterCard Inc. to Bank of America Corp. (BAC ) The bust has yielded evidence against more than 4,000 suspects and links to people in Bulgaria, Canada, Poland, and Sweden. They can even shelter servers in a separate country, snarling the trail for investigators. Their favorite hideouts: Russia, Eastern Europe, and China.
A Russian gang called the HangUp Team allegedly based in Archangelsk, an Arctic Circle city, the alleged original members of the team, Alexei Galaiko, Ivan Petrichenko, and Sergei Popov, were arrested for infecting two local computer networks with malicious code, pummeling e-commerce web sites and taunting its pursuers for two years, police say. The gang plants software bugs in computers that allow it to steal passwords, and it rents out huge networks of computers to others for sending out viruses and spam. HangUp Team hides in plain sight. Its Web site --
rat.net.ru/index.php -- is decorated with a red-and-black swastika firing off lightning bolts. Its blog discusses hacker tactics and rails against Americans. Its motto: In Fraud We Trust. "We think we know what they've done, where they are, and who they are," says Nagel. But authorities haven't been able to nab them so far. The Secret Service won't say why. The ShadowCrew allegedly had 4,000 members operating worldwide -- including Americans, Brazilians, Britons, Russians, and Spaniards. "Organized crime has realized what it can do on the street, it can do in cyberspace," says Peter G. Allor, a former Green Beret who heads the intelligence team at Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISSX ) in Atlanta.
Consumer Fraud
FBI: 418-4000
Postal Inspection Service: 895-8450
Richard Zack, USAO: 861-8200
Fourteen Principles of Ethical Conduct for Federal Employees
http://www.justice.gov/jmd/ethics/generalf.htm
(1) Public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain.
(2) Employees shall not hold financial interests that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.
(3) Employees shall not engage in financial transactions using nonpublic Government information or allow the improper use of such information to further any private interest.
(4) An employee shall not, except as permitted by the Standards of Ethical Conduct, solicit or accept any gift or other item of monetary value from any person or entity seeking official action from, doing business with, or conducting activities regulated by the employee's agency, or whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employee's duties.
(5) Employees shall put forth honest effort in the performance of their duties.
(6) Employees shall not knowingly make unauthorized commitments or promises of any kind purporting to bind the Government.
(7) Employees shall not use public office for private gain.
(8) Employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.
(9) Employees shall protect and conserve Federal property and shall not use it for other than authorized activities.
(10) Employees shall not engage in outside employment or activities, including seeking or negotiating for employment, that conflict with official Government duties and responsibilities.
(11) Employees shall disclose waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption to appropriate authorities.
(12) Employees shall satisfy in good faith their obligations as citizens, including all financial obligations, especially those -- such as Federal, State, or local taxes -- that are imposed by law.
(13) Employees shall adhere to all laws and regulations that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.
(14) Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that they are violating the law or the ethical standards set forth in the Standards of Ethical Conduct. Whether particular circumstances create an appearance that the law or these standards have been violated shall be determined from the perspective of a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts.
Computer Crimes
FBI: 418-4000
U.S. Secret Service: 215-861-3300
Postal Inspection Service: 215-895-8450
Immigration & Customs Enforcement: 215-717-4800
Michael Levy, USAO: 861-8200
For businesses, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service have organizations that provide information to the business community. For more information, see:
http://www.infragard.net/
http://www.infragardphl.org
http://www.secretservice.gov/ectf.shtm
FBI posts software to combat hacker attacks (US) February 10, 2000,
http://news.cnet.com/News/0-1003-200-1547115.html?dtn.head
---SNIP/SUMMARY-------
Software that can help Web sites neutralize Denial of Service attacks
has been posted by the FBI and computer service organizations and can
be downloaded for free. The FBI and security
site Packet Storm have posted software that can detect whether a site
is being attacked.
DDoS programs such
as Trinoo, Tribe Flood Network (TFN) and Stacheldraht enable an attacker
to use other people's computers to overwhelm a target with packets of
information sent over the Internet.
The FBI's tool
examines programs on a computer for "signatures" that indicate
the presence of the attack software, much like the way antivirus software
looks for telltale signs.
Those who download
the FBI's software "are asked to report significant or suspected
criminal activity to their local FBI office or the NIPC Watch/Warning
Unit, and to computer emergency response support and other law enforcement
agencies," the FBI said.
Some people are
nervous about running software supplied by the federal government. The
software being distributed by the FBI is not being distributed as an open-source
program. Therefore, users can't tell exactly what is going on under the
hood.
The FBI wrote the
program so that it has to rely as little as possible on system programs
that can be corrupted by "root kits," software used by computer
intruders to hide their activity on computers they've broken into.
Links:
Moscow Gorbushka market where you can buy databases of private information from people who deal in stolen information.
Torr and the Silkroad + Bitcoin is the only true Free Trade Market on the net. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/silkroad/
But even Silk Road has limits: You won't find any weapons-grade plutonium, for example. Its terms of service ban the sale of “anything who's purpose is to harm or defraud, such as stolen credit cards, assassinations, and weapons of mass destruction.”
http://news.cnet.com/News/0-1007-200-1545348.html
http://news.cnet.com/News/0-1005-200-1546086.html
http://www.hackernews.com/