Cyber crooks should make you very nervous

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2012/10/cyber-crooks-should-make-you-very-nervous/58584/

By Aliya Sternstein
Nextgov
Oct. 4, 2012

Federal undercover agents are resorting to show and tell to combat a 
growing menace - criminal hackers. The Justice Department has been 
making headlines by publicizing prosecutions, disclosing investigative 
techniques and revealing findings before clinching guilty verdicts. 
Sure, calling attention to charges and arrests could discourage digital 
invaders. But that’s not the only factor driving the candor.

“What about all the intelligence that could have been shared with these 
victims before they were victims?” says Shawn Henry, the bureau’s former 
cyber chief. The hope is that frankness will convince the public that 
more treacherous criminals are out there—orchestrating the kinds of 
hacks that, for national security purposes, officials cannot discuss in 
detail. These are the cripplin network activities that FBI Director 
Robert Mueller has said will supersede terrorism as the greatest threat 
to the country.

“The bureau had always been a little quiet when it came to singing its 
praises,” says Scott Aken, a former special agent in the FBI’s computer 
and cybercrime unit, adding that it seemed like there never was any 
press release put out during the more than five years he spent there. 
The goal of the FBI was always a conviction, says Aken, who now works in 
the defense sector. “You wanted to keep your sources close to the 
chest,” he adds.

But today, given the enormity of the cyber threat and public interest, 
sharing some investigative details before closing a case could help 
citizens understand the danger. “Now the word ‘botnet’ and the word 
‘malware’ are a lot more in the open,” Aken says, referring to a network 
of computers that crooks remotely commandeer without the owners’ 
knowledge.

[...]

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