Teenage Mutant Ninja Hackers

Not the most original title, I realise, but at least you know what I’m going to talk about.

A while back, I mentioned cyber-crime, so I’m fairly happy that this makes me seem relatively on the ball here, as security consultants have recently highlighted a sharp rise in teenagers getting involved with the more serious aspects of online crime.

Not content with drinking cider in bus-stops or mugging old ladies anymore, the little rascals – as young as 11 apparently – begin with milder stuff, like dealing in computer game hacks, before winding up trying to send malicious viruses, scamming, using phishing kits and exchanging stolen ID and credit card data. Great stuff.

The one “good” thing about all this, I suppose, is that the little darlings nearly ALWAYS get caught, because of a total lack of knowledge; this includes managaging to infect their own computers with their viruses right the way through to videoing themselves being master criminals and posting it to Youtube… under the same alias they just used to hack a site or run a phishing scam. They also share photos and personal details of their life online which makes it very easy computer security experts to track them down and get them arrested.

Words fail me at this point…

Caught Phishin’

Since my last comments about phishing, it seems that the BBC has (somehow) unearthed a massive campaign by online fraudsters to use credit card details gleaned from online users, create fake cards with the information, and then clean out accounts by using the self-service checkouts in supermarkets and petrol-stations. Clever Buggers.

But, the UK cyber-police has just shut down an international website where cyber-crooks were trading financial information and ID of users. Darkmarket had been up and running for around three years and being responsible for fraud running into the £millions. It’s quite worrying, but sites and forums like this are increasing – more information here.

But what I truly appreciate, (always look on the brightside of life), is that the site closure and consequent arrests were made due to ex-hackers following electronic trails for the police. Bad-guys-now-turned-good… It’s like a 21st Century Catch Me If You Can. Or WarGames. Or something along those lines.
Whatever; point is, this also appears to be an increasing phenomenon. We owe you thanks, Geeks of Justice!

Gone Phishin’

In case it’s escaped anyone’s attention, the world is in economic turmoil. However, even people who are completely aware of this seem not to notice the increasing upturn in online fraud.

Recently, the US Federal Trade Commission passed out a warning, indicating a worryingly large growth of problems related to phishing, where information is gleaned from unsuspecting online users. Apparently, phishing attacks have increased more than 180% in a single year, and in its second annual report, the All Parliamentary Group on ID Fraud helpfully pointed out that tighter credit lending rules would lead to more attempts to get at existing bank accounts. This immediately prompted our ever-vigilant goverment to suggest that ID theft is not such a big problem anymore, but instead, anyone using the internet for personal or financial reasons should be more made aware of the potential problems that could occur.

Going back to the FTC, who seem to have a better grasp on highlighting the issues, they outlined the problem perfectly, saying that with rapid changes in the financial industry, where many institutions suddenly have new owners, this could be a green light for phishermen, as fraudsters can easily pose as the new owners of banks or the goverment agencies who are embroiled in the mess.

Secure Computing revealed that it’s October spam report showed many of the banks and other financial institutions involved in the credit crunch were topping the list of phishing targets: Chase, Wachovia and Bank of America were among the most popular targets with scammers and the report also indicated that the company expects British banks to begin creeping into these lists, as mergers and buy-outs are completed.

So, in case you didn’t know, you need to be wary online – don’t reply to emails or pop-ups that ask for any form of personal information, if they look like they’ve come from your bank. Check statements and online transactions carefully. As the philosophical George Bush said, it’s your money – you paid for it.