Links Between Phorm & Russian Organized Crime?

["Paul Ferguson" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

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Sure, I have heard all about Phorm, and the saga that has been
playing out in the UK regarding "overly invasive" advertizement
insertion via deep-packet Inspection (DPI):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorm

But aside from that, I hadn't really done any background fact
checking aside from the stories in the popular trade press (my
day job keeps me pretty busy :-)

But rsk dropped a bombshell on my today, via a message to the
NANOG mailing list, which almost made my explode:

http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg08091.html

Maybe I've had my head in the sand on this particular issue,
but this is the first I had heard of this claim:

"Phorm Linked to RBN"
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=489948&cid=22777122

So I did some digging (just a little -- a couple of Google
searches) to see what else I could dig up.

Caveat: I can neither vouch or validate any of these assertions,
but they do highlight some very, very questionable background.

The /. commentary does not provide any references, but a quick
Google search yeilded an article in The (UK) Mail on Sunday:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_
id=430955&in_page_id=

And, of course, The Register has done a great job in
covering Phorm (formerly known as 121Media) in "The Phorm Files":

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_roundup/

But I've also run across this:

"The Russian Mafia is Raising its Ugly Head - this Time in
Sheep’s Clothing"
http://blog.cytrap.eu/?p=349

..and also other sundry links on Kent Ertugrul (CEO of Phorm and
121Media), etc:

Kent Ertugrul
Phorm CEO
http://www.phorm.com/about/exec_ertugrul.php

Rootkit-spyware pusher ContextPlus shuts down
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/?p=820

...and this from http://www.badphorm.co.uk/ :

"Someone said Phorm was linked to Russia, is it true?"

"Yes, there is a clear link between Phorm and Russia.
Phorm employ Russian programmers:

"The development team for the new software was recruited
from Moscow's elite Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics
and Computer Engineering, a vital part of of the Cold War
spying effort and still a centre for developing Russia's
'national security' computer systems."

So, while none of this provides any concrete evidence of links
to Russian organized crime, it does kind leave you wondering.

- - ferg

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--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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