THE CYBER THREAT TODAY

Comments in Caps By Gerald:

THE CYBER THREAT TODAY Major Attacks on the Rise
10/17/08
One case in point: We joined our international partners yesterday in announcing a major takedown of a transnational criminal network that was buying and selling stolen financial information through an online forum known as “Dark Market.” Cyber crooks scared G “The business of the United States is done on the Internet,” said Henry, a veteran cyber crime investigator. And the information that flows electronically 24/7 is increasingly the target of not only identity thieves and scammers, but organized crime groups, terrorists, and overseas governments. “There are a number of countries who have an interest in stealing information from the United States,” Henry said, explaining that as many as two dozen nations have taken an “aggressive interest” in penetrating our networks. In the past year, he added, “the malicious activity has become much more prevalent.” Malicious activity could come in the form of attacks that deny access to websites, that compromise sensitive information, or that introduce “botnets” that spread viruses and covertly co-opt computers to carry out data theft. “There are a number of countries who have an interest in stealing information from the United States,” Henry said, explaining that as many as two dozen nations have taken an “aggressive interest” in penetrating our networks. New groups of hackers—virtual gangs—are a growing threat as well, banding together to pool their expertise and carry out coordinated cyber attacks. Henry pointed out that in years gone by, if a gang wanted to rob a bank, it needed crooks with various skills—safe cracker, get-away driver, look-out, etc. That’s essentially what we’re seeing in the cyber world today, only these virtual gang members have never met in the physical world. “There are organized groups that are very successful,” Henry said. The 3 Ps. To address the rising threat, the Cyber Division has a threefold strategic plan—“Prioritize, Proactive, Partnerships.” By prioritizing our efforts, we can go after the most critical threats. Being proactive means adopting the same time-tested investigative techniques that have been so successful in our physical crime investigations—the use of informants, electronic surveillance, and placement of undercover agents to penetrate and dismantle virtual criminal operations. SIGH: THEY ARE USING INVESTIGATIVE TECHNIQUES THEY DEVELOPED IN THE 19TH CENTURY, TO FIGHT A CRIMINAL PARADIGM DEVELOPED IN THE 21ST CENTURY. AND HAVE A BACKLOG OF 2 MILLION COMPLAINTS.G. The third “P”—partnerships—means building even stronger relationships with law enforcement agencies worldwide. He said we’ve worked with such countries as Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Turkey to swap best practices and techniques. We’ve also sent agents to Romania to work with law enforcement there, leading to nearly 100 arrests in cyber crime cases representing “tens of millions of dollars” in losses, Henry said. And the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3—a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center—continues to assist state and local law enforcement in fighting cyber crime. Since its establishment in 2000, IC3 has received more than a million complaints. In the last couple of years, there’s been an “uptick” in the number of reports, according to Henry. Lately, they’re coming in at the rate of nearly 20,000 per month. AND RECOVERY RATE FOR THE 20,000 COMPLAINTS A MONTH IS CLOSE TO ZERO, VICTIMS GET ZIP, NO SEIZURE OF MONEY OR ASSETS.G. THE FBI HAS NOT RECRUITED THE ADVANCED, CUTTING EDGE HACKER THEY NEED BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY CAN'T CONTROL THEM. ALL FBI AGENTS STILL DO NOT HAVE A COMPUTER. THEY DO USE BLACKBERRYS NOW, A GENIUS MOVE THAT ALLOWS THE FBI TO REACT ALMOST INSTANTIOULSY TO EMERGENCYS. AND THEY ARE SETTING UP COMPUTER CENTERS MANNED BY SOME GENIUS HARD WORKING AND DEDICATED PEOPLE. BUT THE FBI LIKE THE MILITARY VIEW THE INTERNET AS A SECURITY RISK AND ARE STILL UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE WWW. THE FBI IS NOT APPLYING ADVANCED INTERNET SURVEILLANCE OR INTERDICTION METHODS. USA RESPONSE TO CYBER WAR HAS BEEN ONE OF STATIC DEFENSES. USA HAS NO OFFENSIVE CAPABILITY. USA HAS NO UNIFIED PARADIGM FOR THE WAR ON CYBER CRIME OR CYBER TERRORISM. IN FACT THE USA IS OVER WELMED BUY THE INFLUX OF CYBER CRIMINALS, AND HACKING METHODS, AND NEW CYBER TECHNIQUES. USA IS BEING BUTCHERED PIECE MEAL BY CYBER CRIME, CREDIT CARD THEFT, ID THEFT, PHISHING INFO, AND ADVANCED HACKING METHODS. THE FBI SAYS THERE ARE MILLIONS OF COMPLAINTS ON RECORD ABOUT CYBER CRIME. USA IS VIRTUALLY DEFENSLESS AGAINST THE RUSSIAN BUSINESS NET OR THE MILLIONS OF BOTS THE CHINESE HAVE. CYBER CRIME AND TERRORISM ARE ON THE SAME VECTOR AND IN TIME WILL JOIN TOGETHER. THE ENTIRE WWW IS AT RISK, OF BEING SHUT DOWN FOR MONTHS BY MILLIONS OF BOT NETS. THE TECHNOLOGY IS AVAILABLE TO TURN THIS AROUND, AND ALLOW THE USA TO DOMINATE THE WWW LIKE THE AIRFORCE DOMINATES THE AIR, ANY WHERE, ANY PLACE ANY TIME. IF ANOTHER AIRFORCE IS ATTACKED BY THE US AIRFORCE THEY RUN OR DIE. IN CYBER SPACE THE USA IS ONE OF THE JUICYEST TARGETS, AND ONE OF THE WEAKEST PLAYERS. THE FBI HAVE NO CYBER SIDEARMS. THE AIRFORCE STARTED A CYBER FORCE JUST TO DROP IT. AND NORAD HAS MUMBLED SOMETHING ABOUT CYBER SPACE BUT HAVE ISSUED NO MISSION STATEMENT. USA IS NOT A FORCE TO BE FEARED ON THE INTERNET. USA IS AN EASY TARGET. THE WHITE HATS THE FBI IS PARTERENING WITH ARE NOT CUTTING EDGE, ARE NOT HACKERS, THEY ARE A REACTIONARY FORCE. USA HAS BEEN BEHIND THE CURVE ON INTERNET CRIME FOR 10 YEARS, THEY HAVE NEVER GOT OUT IN FRONT OF IT. THE TATICS OF THE RBN AND HACKERS CAN BE TURNED AGAINST THEM. NO ONE IS THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, NO ONE HAS A EFFECTIVE PARADIGM, THE TOOLS NEEDED TO STOP THIS CRIMINAL AND TERRORIST FORCE ARE THERE. THE INTERNET IS NOT ONLY A VECTOR FOR ATTACK ON USA, BUT ALSO AMERICAS WEAPON AND MOST POWERFUL TOOL. USA HAS THE TOOLS TO DOMINATE THE WWW, STOP BOT ATTACKS IN THEIR TRACKS. PART OF THE NEEDED PARADIGM IS TO MOVE INTO THE CYBER AGE. TO REMOTELY SEARCH COMPUTERS IN SECRET, AND TRACK PERPS IN THEIR TRAVELS ACCROSS THE INTERNET. READ THEIR EMAILS AND IM. TO TRACK AND INFILTRATE ANY ONE IN THE WORLD FROM ANY PLACE IN THE WORLD. YOU DON'T NEED AGENTS ON THE GROUND. THEIR HARD DRIVES CAN BE ERASED OR EVEN CRASHED. THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS THAT ARE NOT BEING USED, AND WEAKNESSES OF CYBER CRIMINALS NOT BEING EXPLOITED. DRAINING THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS, PUBLISHING THEIR MESSAGES, EXPOSING THEIR NAMES. CREATING CYBER BATTALIONS, FORCES OF THOUSANDS OF CYBER TRAINED TROOPERS. USA IS MIA IN THE CRIMINAL CYBER WAR. WE HAVE TRACKED CYBER CRIMINALS TO THEIR LAIRS. GOTTEN THEM ARRESTED, PROVIDED THE EVIDENCE, ONLY TO HAVE THEM BAILED OUT AND BACK AT CYBER CRIME THE NEXT DAY, WE SAW THEM AT WORK ON THE INTERNET CAFE SECURITY CAMS, AND OUR CLIENTS GOT ZERO RECOVERY. THE RATES FOR INFECTION AND MALWARE AND TAKE OVER OF COMPUTERS IS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH, AND OUR SECURITY, ANTI-VIRUS, FIREWALLS, SWEEPERS, BLACK LISTS AND ROOTKIT HUNTERS ARE AT AN ALL TIME INEFFECTIVENESS. THE CYBER CRIMINALS ARE WINNING THE CRIMINAL WAR. AND THE TERRORIST KNOW THIS. FORCASTING THE CURRENT PARADIGM INTO THE FUTURE DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR THE USA. USA'S WEAKNESS IS VISABLE, IN A DOMAIN USA INVENTED. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MOVITATE USA INTO EFFECTIVE ACTION? USA NEEDS A Manhattan Project FOR THE INTERNET. GERALD Tactical Internet Systems analyst .

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COUNTERPOINT:

The FBI on Friday boasted that its two-year long undercover operation against users of the crime forumDarkMarket netted 56 arrests worldwide and prevented $70 million in economic losses, publicly acknowledging the sting for the first time.

"In today's world of rapidly expanding technology, where cybercrimes are perpetrated instantly from anywhere in the world, law enforcement needs to be flexible and creative in our efforts to target these criminals," said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry in a statement. "By joining forces with our international law enforcement counterparts, we have been, and will continue to be, successful in arresting those individuals and dismantling these forums."

British police say they've arrested five DarkMarket users in recent days, and 11 since the sting began in late 2006. The other arrests have been in Turkey, Germany and the United States, according to the FBI. Spokesman Brian Hale said the feds won't be going into more detail. "We have released all the information in that release that we're publicly going to discuss at this point in time," said Hale.

DarkMarket allowed buyers and sellers of stolen identities and credit card data to meet and do business in an entrepreneurial, peer-reviewed environment. It had 2,500 users at its peak, according to the FBI. 

Documents uncovered by a German radio network on Monday first revealed that DarkMarket had been secretly run by an FBI cybercrime agent for the last two years, until its voluntary shutdown earlier this month. The leader of the site, know online as Master Splynter, was in fact FBI cybercrime agent J. Keith Mularski, part of an elite seven-agent cybercrime unit based at the National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance in Pittsburgh. 

SOURCE:

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Cyber crooks scared G...OUR POST ON THIS FROM OCT 14, 08

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