From: Help Net Security
So says Deputy Assistant FBI Director Steven Chabinsky, who assures us that law enforcement is taking the cyber threat very seriously. "The cyber threat can be an existential threat, meaning it can challenge our country's very existence, or significantly alter our nation's potential," Chabinsky said at the FOSE government IT show.
According to him, cyber crime actually pays so much that people that may have initially dabbed in it, are now quitting their day jobs and becoming "career criminals". This fact makes it possible for them to specialize in what they do best, and it is exactly that which makes them extremely efficient.
eSecurity Planet reports that the various sting operations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies engage in to counter this threat have yielded enough information about the inner workings of these crime organizations to make possible the development of charts that illustrate the various roles that people in the organization assume: the coder, the "techie" (that keep the servers and ISPs online), the hacker (actively searches for vulnerabilities to exploit), the money mule, the fraudster (creates social engineering schemes), and others. From eSecurity Planet:
Help Net Security continues with their story:
"Professional" money mules are a rather new addition to the criminal enterprise. It used to be that the great majority of them were unsuspecting accomplices that got tricked into executing transfers under the impression they were doing a completely legal thing.
According to the FBI, alongside the "career" money mules, there are also "premier" mules, who usually come to the US on student or work visas and execute the instructions given to them by the gang and recruit other mules to do the same.
Continue Reading at Help Net Security
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According to him, cyber crime actually pays so much that people that may have initially dabbed in it, are now quitting their day jobs and becoming "career criminals". This fact makes it possible for them to specialize in what they do best, and it is exactly that which makes them extremely efficient.
eSecurity Planet reports that the various sting operations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies engage in to counter this threat have yielded enough information about the inner workings of these crime organizations to make possible the development of charts that illustrate the various roles that people in the organization assume: the coder, the "techie" (that keep the servers and ISPs online), the hacker (actively searches for vulnerabilities to exploit), the money mule, the fraudster (creates social engineering schemes), and others. From eSecurity Planet:
FBI Underboss Says Cyber Criminals the New Mafia
WASHINGTON -- As cyber crime increasingly becomes the vocation of highly organized criminal syndicates, law enforcement authorities have been revamping their approach to address the growing sophistication of the threat. Speaking here at the FOSE government IT show, Deputy Assistant FBI Director Steven Chabinsky said that high-tech crimes have become the bureau's top law-enforcement priority, reflecting the heightened concerns about cybersecurity across the senior ranks of the federal government. "If we fail to act, the cyber threat can be an existential threat, meaning it can challenge our country's very existence, or significantly alter our nation's potential," Chabinsky said. "I am convinced that given enough time, motivation and funding, a determined adversary will always -- always -- be able to penetrate a targeted system." Through a series of sting operations, the FBI has been probing the anatomy of cyber crime gangs, which Chabinsky said have taken on a Mafia-like structure that is a far cry from the early days of the lone-wolf hacker setting out to make a name for himself.
Help Net Security continues with their story:
"Professional" money mules are a rather new addition to the criminal enterprise. It used to be that the great majority of them were unsuspecting accomplices that got tricked into executing transfers under the impression they were doing a completely legal thing.
According to the FBI, alongside the "career" money mules, there are also "premier" mules, who usually come to the US on student or work visas and execute the instructions given to them by the gang and recruit other mules to do the same.
Continue Reading at Help Net Security
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