Web of Crime: Internet Gangs Go Global
PC World’s Liane Cassavoy is the author of this article. It was published in the PC World website on August 24th, 2005. The article is the third part of a five-part series. This is a summary of the article and its key points.
Cassavoy describes the shift in profile of computer hackers and virus creators from the rebellious teenage out to get attention to a well-organized network of criminals whose driving ambition is financial gain. These perpetrators referred to as “Web gangs” in the text, have turned into mercenaries and the bid will determine who they chose to work for. The author cites an illustration which draws similarities between the lawless and easy money nature of web crime with drug trafficking.
In July 2005, the SANS Institute’s report identified new vulnerabilities totalling to more than 400, which if not addressed by users would make them viable victims of web crime such as identity theft, industrial espionage or distribution of spam and pornography.
The founder of Prolexic Technologies, Barrett Lyon, carried out undercover investigation to infiltrate a web crime organization. Barrett’s investigations revealed that the once playful computer hacking arena had now turned into something reminiscent of a mafia or organized crime movie. He targeted a Russian crime syndicate that used distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to crush legal online gambling and retail websites, whose owners had refused to pay exhortation money.
These organizations’ composition was very intricate and decentralized making it difficult to fight web crime collectively. There was a pyramid structure where the head, criminal kingpin, had the financial muscle to organize the group, put together the plan and hire the necessary technology savvy individuals. These individuals were recruited via acquaintances and online arenas such as websites and forums. They acquired hacking skills and harnessed using various online tutorials, freelance work and experimenting in ones are of expertise, for example a programmer writing exploits.
The workforce does not only comprise of tech-savvy hackers, but also persons with other uses and specialities. The author gives an example of a criminal gang that receives its funds in multiple payments through money transfer organizations. They use prostitutes to collect the money and deposit into bank accounts. The money can now be wired worldwide making it difficult to trace.
There are a couple of countries that have emerged as hotspots for web gangs and web crime. Some of the reasons behind this are: the law and law enforcement lagging behind in cyber-crime, technically advanced population and poor economy resulting in people with good technical skill but no jobs.
References
Cassavoy, L. (2005, Aug. 24). Web of crime: Internet gangs go global. PC World. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com
