One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer'

One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer'

www.guardian.co.uk

The FBI and US secret service have used the threat of prison to create an army of informers among online criminals

"We have already begun to see Anonymous members attack each other and out each other's IP addresses. That's the first step towards being susceptible to the FBI."

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posin

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Of course not surprising at all
However most likely the number is higher than that and I wouldn't be surprised if 1 in 4 hackers are FBI Employees, 1 in 4 hackers are CIA agents another 1 in 4 are DHS employees.
In all that mix there's real hackers, some from China.

Follow the money as they say

Think of anti-virus companies, that's a billion dollar industry
What would happen if there were no more viruses?
Trend Micro, Symantec, Kaspersky, Computer Associates, McAfee, Cisco and so many others, all these massive companies would make so much less money if there weren't so many viruses, so of course they are part of it.

Same thing with the Pentagon, they want to make cyber attacks an act of war, then tomorrow there's no stopping invading Iran.

My only point is that it's probably much worse than the picture that the headline suggests.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Think of anti-virus companies, that's a billion dollar industry
What would happen if there were no more viruses?
Trend Micro, Symantec, Kaspersky, Computer Associates, McAfee, Cisco and so many others, all these massive companies would make so much less money if there weren't so many viruses, so of course they are part of it.

I work for an anti virus company and i know alot of the virus analysts, most of the new viruses are from 3rd world countries who target weak and outdated computers.

The most common 'virus's arnt realy viruses, just simple emails that lead to compramised servers that try to steal info from your machine somtimes using tojan attempts etc.

A majority of the anti-virus industry is there to protect the user from their own stupidity, sadly the internet moves fast and there are few who understand it well enough to get without personel security software.

I wont mention which company i work for, but i can assure you there is no underground basement room where the virus busters go on their lunch break to write some more viruses.

Since the internet is a very anonomous domain its highly unsupprising that hackers will out each other to save their own butts when threatend with very real prison sentences.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


i can agree with almost everything there with exception of following the money

when i follow the money china is the largest state funded and state sponsor source of world hackers.

they have the money and they have the people and apparently they are quite skilled.

Originally posted by Biigs
I wont mention which company i work for, but i can assure you there is no underground basement room where the virus busters go on their lunch break to write some more viruses.

As a citizen of the United States do you know of every backroom deal that happens in the Oval Office?

No need to say which company but can you describe your position?
Because unless you are a C-level exec I don't see how you could think you would have access to this information.

A Billion Dollar industry and you think they have no motivation to not only maintain but grow that business?

1/4 hackers... are we talking US hackers? Worldwide? Nice way to scare the little script kiddies to stay away from scripts and join the ANonymous uproar. A nameless non existing "group of hackers" just like Al Qaida was non existent... These are the same media that will point at the non existing "Anonymous" after the big blackout and the nuclear detonations... Well well well...

Remember they don't control the Netz any longer. Kill switches will only make the game more interesting.
Tnx.

i had a mcafee year long trial that came with my laptop, strange thing is that i removed the software as it was seemingly slowing my computer down but when the year ran out i suddenly picked up quite a vicious virus that i had to reset my memory to remove as i couldnt get rid of it with any free programmes while in safe mode.

could be a coincidence but it seemed a bit fishy considering all the emails that i got sent by mcafee warning me that my trial was over.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Most Hackers are script kiddies...
they have no real knowledge of writing code (Viruses)

other's do that... then release those to so called Leet web sites where these typically board teens use these hacker tools to see what they can get away with... more often than not they manage to successfully break into a "Honeypot" That's a website built with the sole purpose of catching script kiddies...

of course they will narc each other out...
but the real code writers quietly do there thing...

want to see what real hackers are like??? look into what happened when red hat tried to copyright all Linux script!
Real hackers came pouring out of the wood work... and launched an attack that is still talked about today

Most of this comes from the hackers biting off more than they can chew. Without properly defending their own systems and methods a lot will try and hit large servers with experienced admins and response crews that will strike back at them. This leads to a visit by the g-men usually with an offer to play ball or get locked away and after release never touch a computer again (and when you hack at that level, computers are their life). Too many hackers these days gloss over basic computer concepts and skills and hop right into exploitation which makes them liable to get caught.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


I've had some discussions with friends interested in this type of thing. The consensus seems to be that the bush-league hackers get jail when caught, and that the mediocre ones get drafted by the FBI, et cetera, but the really good ones don't get caught.

pathetic attempt of fearmongering!!!!!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia

Originally posted by Biigs
No need to say which company but can you describe your position?

I am a senior administrator, nothing happens in my building without me knowing/approving.

Now i can obviously only comment on my own experiences in the industry, but if there was a scam on this sort of level there would definitly be rumours all over the place. I know many people from other companys who do similer and not so similer jobs, online secuirty is about making the paying user(s) as safe as possible, but these days viruses are rare and getting rarer thanks to clever ways to lock down systems properly.

To be honest its easyer to kidnap somone and make a threat of some kind to get given the keys/passwords, than it is to stage an elaborate hack. Unless of course the user in question has no clue what thier doing and have no firewalls/security software, in which case they would be mad to have any sensitive info on the pc in the first place!

Mobile secuirty is becoming big business now that everyone uses their smartphones as a mobile pc, and thats far harder to protect since wifi is so easily compramised (hint do not use your smartphone at airports on their wifi, esp for banking stuff)

Originally posted by Biigs
I am a senior administrator, nothing happens in my building without me knowing/approving.

Wait, you work for a Anti-Virus company but you are an IT Admin?
So you have no authority whatsoever as far as anti-viral products are concerned?
Your just the network admin for a company in the anti-virus industry?

LOL, so why would you think that you would know what goes in the backdoors during C-Level meetings?
That's like saying the Network Administrator of Goldmann Sacchs knows everything about their illegal practices.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia

Originally posted by Biigs
I am a senior administrator, nothing happens in my building without me knowing/approving.

Wait, you work for a Anti-Virus company but you are an IT Admin?
So you have no authority whatsoever as far as anti-viral products are concerned?
Your just the network admin for a company in the anti-virus industry?

LOL, so why would you think that you would know what goes in the backdoors during C-Level meetings?
That's like saying the Network Administrator of Goldmann Sacchs knows everything about their illegal practices.

woa calm down there freind, i thoguht i would let ATS know what i know, thats all.

Clearly if theres a super secret deal to keep the AV busniess running, they wouldnt do it in house and im just confirming as somone who configures, purchases and helps with ALL aspects of the companys running, that i in 5 years have heard absolutly nothing to support such a claim.

Ive seen how the virus analysts pick apart suspect code, it can be a long and painful task and i would say for sure if they had written it it wouldnt take them hours or days to undo it, right

Originally posted by Biigs
woa calm down there freind, i thoguht i would let ATS know what i know, thats all.

It's all good buddy, I am a skeptic by nature though

Originally posted by Biigs
Clearly if theres a super secret deal to keep the AV busniess running, they wouldnt do it in house and im just confirming as somone who configures, purchases and helps with ALL aspects of the companys running, that i in 5 years have heard absolutly nothing to support such a claim.

You wouldn't hear about it though
You said if it was true there would be mass rumors
If it was done in-house then there would be rumors, but they probably employeed some 3rd party vendor, maybe from a 3rd world country.

Originally posted by Biigs
Ive seen how the virus analysts pick apart suspect code, it can be a long and painful task and i would say for sure if they had written it it wouldnt take them hours or days to undo it, right

But you are talking about the workers with the sleeves up doing the grunt work and suggesting that I am saying they are also the same individuals writing the viruses?

No that doesn't make any sense, as mentioned the writers are probably in 3rd world countries but are being paid maybe through a company that is a front and is really being paid by the manufacturer.

AV companies don't have to write viruses to ensure steady income. They just have to make their product "alarm" on items that aren't viruses to give the appearance of vigilance.

It is why i got rid of McAfee. It found a virus in everything. Had i followed its instructions i would have destroyed my OS.

BTW, those who say "the good hackers don't get caught"...spot on. The FBI Informants amount to people who are not really able to truly hack. They are like the guys playing lookout for the crack dealer.

Mobile secuirty is becoming big business now that everyone uses their smartphones as a mobile pc, and thats far harder to protect since wifi is so easily compramised (hint do not use your smartphone at airports on their wifi, esp for banking stuff)

edit on 6-6-2011 by Biigs because: (no reason given)

Wouldn't running a VPN on your I-Phone, off of your Home computer (As the sever) Fix that problem????

Also I dumped McAfee and Norton a long time ago, went to Avast (Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.) Same problem, everything was a virus, Avast worked a lot better.

As for the 1in4, that must include the "White hat hackers" Those who have a job and permission to hack into a system to check for volitionalitys.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia

Originally posted by Biigs
woa calm down there freind, i thoguht i would let ATS know what i know, thats all.

It's all good buddy, I am a skeptic by nature though

Originally posted by Biigs
Clearly if theres a super secret deal to keep the AV busniess running, they wouldnt do it in house and im just confirming as somone who configures, purchases and helps with ALL aspects of the companys running, that i in 5 years have heard absolutly nothing to support such a claim.

You wouldn't hear about it though
You said if it was true there would be mass rumors
If it was done in-house then there would be rumors, but they probably employeed some 3rd party vendor, maybe from a 3rd world country.

Originally posted by Biigs
Ive seen how the virus analysts pick apart suspect code, it can be a long and painful task and i would say for sure if they had written it it wouldnt take them hours or days to undo it, right

But you are talking about the workers with the sleeves up doing the grunt work and suggesting that I am saying they are also the same individuals writing the viruses?

No that doesn't make any sense, as mentioned the writers are probably in 3rd world countries but are being paid maybe through a company that is a front and is really being paid by the manufacturer.

Yeah that a fair and reasonably logical idea.

However there are definitly PLENTY of real cyber criminals out for nothing more than to cause people problems, its the internets fault. People are very nasty when they can get away with it anonymously, there doesnt even need to be money involved for some of these cyber thugs.

I could definitly belive a software/security company paying for an attack on a potential target customer or to discredit a competitor - its the oldest and meanest trick in the capitalist handbook.

Did you hear about that online funeral comprised of freinds of the girl who had died, in an internet game. 'Greifers' turned up and ruined it all just for the sake of some slightly disturbing need to high 5 with their faceless online buddy because they made poeple feel bad/mad. On the internet nothing is sacred.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
BTW, those who say "the good hackers don't get caught"...spot on. The FBI Informants amount to people who are not really able to truly hack. They are like the guys playing lookout for the crack dealer.

fully agree with this.

The teenage wanna be leet hackers love to brag this alone makes them easy to catch, real professional hackers are the ones taking the money and saying nothing to anyone, usually the best hacks arnt even uncovered for months making finding the one responcable even harder.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia


Of course not surprising at all
However most likely the number is higher than that and I wouldn't be surprised if 1 in 4 hackers are FBI Employees, 1 in 4 hackers are CIA agents another 1 in 4 are DHS employees.
In all that mix there's real hackers, some from China.

All is not as it seems.

Thanks for the news Modern Acadamia! This is an interesting twist to
all of the hacks of late!

reply to post by lewman


Yea I'm pretty sure that is not a coincidence that "all of a sudden" you got a virus after it expired and you had uninstalled it. That program is a pain in the butt to uninstall, there are remnants of it left everywhere - hmmmmm......kinda makes ya think doesn't it?

In the late '90's me and my drummer decided to put our skills to use and make some money - so we found local business websites, asked if we could scan for vulnerabilities, notified the owners of the holes and offered to fix them. This led to other types of work - websites, building pc's, custom programs, virus/spyware removal and overall system security - which I am still doing to this day.

I have always thought that the virus companies (or someone hired by them) were the ones writing the virii, how would you stay in business otherwise? And why would you need a "removal tool" from the antivirus company in order to remove their program? Seems if they knew what they were doing they would make the "uninstall" feature remove ALL parts of the program and leave nothing behind.

But wait, that would involve testing the product before distributing it.

There is a difference between hackers and crackers also, but no one seems to care.