Cyber Crime ...

[Mad Penguin]

Anyone aware of, or see, this;

http://hack-db.com/

It's a database of hacked sites, maintained by the hackers themselves, and it includes mirrors of all the sites that have been hacked (in their hacked state) , compiled up with ranking tables to show who's the best hacker. Now although it's interesting to look at, it clearly encourages people to go out and hack [more] sites .. can you believe the authorities let this exist?!

Now I hear you say, in which third world country is this buried such that the Yanks can't take it down.

Well, I dunno, how about "the US of A", a little town called "San Francisco" .. !

On approaching the outfit that broadcasts web sites for the hackers themselves (also in good old SF) I provided some details of a recent hack and requested they take the hackers sites off-line. Seemed only fair.

- their response was "show us the proof" .. I wouldn't mind, but the proof is on the website concerned.
- on showing irrefutable proof their response was "show us more proof".
(a series of links from the hackers own website, via twitter to hack-db.com, all published by the hacker, with a mirror of the hacked site apparently isn't enough)

Arhrhrhrhrhrh.

So when people ask "why Cyber Crime a problem"? It's definitely not because the criminals can't be caught, it's not because we can't block their websites, and indeed we have apparently reputable Western companies prepared to broadcast boasts and evidence of all their illegal activity.

- So, here's the question ;; how do we address this problem

Incidentally, I find it incredibly ironic that hackers showing a distinct leaning toward being Islamic Cyber Terrorists have a website IP that traces back to a Californian company who seem quite happy to provide them with a service. I guess they're not quite so worried in SF, long way from New York and not so many tall towers to knock down! .. or maybe 9/11 was just a long time ago for US tech companies.

.. Oh, and before you read "Hacktivism" on the hack-db site and are tempted to think that they're only ethical hackers and only attack nasty governments and greedy corporates, I'm pretty sure that attacking hospitals and "savethechildre n" pretty much negates any such ethos (!)

[salparadise]

The paranoiac in me says that 95% of "cyber terrorists" are probably Government Officers anyway. They are keen to take the Internet away from us (in its current form) and "nasty people hacking hospitals" is a great opportunity to build a case to that end.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Wouldn't that be a matter for the police/FBI/some other weird yank authority ?

But yeh, it's f***ing ridiculous that the hosts don't appear to care .. it's obvious what the site is.

[Mad Penguin]

probably Government Officers anyway

In some cases, quite possibly .. however in this particular instance the evidence points to Indonesia, and the backup evidence does rather suggest a rather more extensive abuse network than the authorities would need for this sort of thing. Not to mention, this sort of thing doesn't appear to hit the press maybe so much as it should. Hell, their hacks archive has nearly 128,000 entries (!)

Wouldn't that be a matter for the police/FBI/some other weird yank authority ?

That remains to be seen .. I have filed a ticket with the FBI [!] but they don't make any promises re; response timescale.
- that said, the hackers are operating out of Aisa and attacking UK sites .. I did try logging a ticket with MI5, but it takes you through lots of questions and at the end of the day, if you answer all the questions truthfully, you end up at an FAQ site. Apparently if nobody is about to blow themselves up, then a help page will suffice.  Absolutely useless, essentially they don't deal with hacking, even if it's by terrorists, unless there is an obvious / imminent physical threat associated with it (!)

[salparadise]

Various servile Governments have rather a lot to answer for, in particular, New Labour - the architects of so much destruction and damage in the UK. They groveled around Microsoft, handing our schools and Hospitals over to their disgusting software in mutli-year and entirely illegal contracts. The school timetable was altered to make room for writing endless reports on how to use a database or how to use a spreadsheet and left absolutely no room for understanding computers or learning to master them. This suited Microsoft very well, as stupid people with no expectations and who have not been encouraged to think critically or independently, are quite likely to be happy to use substandard software and not complain.
The upshot is we have millions of  people, who are utterly reliant on technology they know nothing about and who are so blinded that they don't even realise what a position of weakness they are in.

All part and parcel of the Planet Stupid project - brought to you in association with the US/UK Governments and various well known Corporations.

[Mad Penguin]

Mmm, but just to be clear re; Computer / Educations / Skills gap etc, this is UK governments in general, nothing particular to new Labour. (although I'd agree with your other points re; new Labour)

If you read the press about government contracts, over budget delivery, lack of delivery, deficient solutions and their apparent lack of interest in Open Source solutions, you'd almost think that all government contracts were based on lobbying by big Bill, a nod and a winck, old school ties, back handers and pure corruption. I know I do. In the face of such inherent corruption you might be inclined to think there's only one way out of our current situation. I'm guessing this is partly the angle these hackers are coming from, I just don't agree with their method, not to mention their choice of targets.