[caption id="attachment_1295" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cybercrime Fighters"]
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An attractive brunette in a business suit is making her online pitch. "Are you tired of searching for legit CVV shops?" her animated form asks from the corner of the website. "Search no more," she promises. This site has "handpicked cards" with "high balances". "What are you waiting for? Register now."
It looks like a legitimate business website, one for small business financing perhaps. But I'm being shown this site and asked not to identify it by FBI special agent Keith Mularski in the offices of the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance, a Pittsburgh-based alliance between international law enforcement agencies, business and academia that has been charged with tackling the growing menace of cybercrime. This is a site at the cutting edge of crime.
CVV stands for card verification value. This site, and its equally professional rivals, are selling stolen credit card information to criminals who snap them up like songs on iTunes. A dollar buys enough information to use someone else's card online, $30 buys a "dump," all the information you need to copy a card and set off on your own real-world shopping spree with somebody else's plastic.
There are millions of stolen accounts available, hacked from banks and online sellers, or swiped at cash machines. The FBI recently reclaimed 1.5m numbers from one seller alone. You can sort by type, MasterCard, Visa, or American Express, by geography, or just stick to business cards for their higher balances. There's no need to fear getting ripped off. Criminals peer-review each other's sites. It's eBay for crooks.
Mularski knows a thing or two about cybercrime. For two years he ran one of the biggest underworld crime sites in the world. Using the pseudonym Master Splynter (a nod to the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Mularski masqueraded as a spammer, winning the confidence of online crooks and eventually taking over as host of Dark Market, at the time the largest online forum for cybercriminals. The sting was a big victory for the US authorities, which, along with other governments, have struggled to keep up with the rapidly spreading threat.
To read the full story click here: FBI fights back against cybercrime
Until cybercrime is abolished or at least under control to some degree, it is up to each individual within their respective organizations to take personal responsibility for Internet security awareness. Now is the time to proof up your employees against cybercrime; the means is with Internet security awareness training. Take a free Internet security phishing test!
Stu Sjouwerman
KnowBe4
[/caption]An attractive brunette in a business suit is making her online pitch. "Are you tired of searching for legit CVV shops?" her animated form asks from the corner of the website. "Search no more," she promises. This site has "handpicked cards" with "high balances". "What are you waiting for? Register now."
It looks like a legitimate business website, one for small business financing perhaps. But I'm being shown this site and asked not to identify it by FBI special agent Keith Mularski in the offices of the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance, a Pittsburgh-based alliance between international law enforcement agencies, business and academia that has been charged with tackling the growing menace of cybercrime. This is a site at the cutting edge of crime.
CVV stands for card verification value. This site, and its equally professional rivals, are selling stolen credit card information to criminals who snap them up like songs on iTunes. A dollar buys enough information to use someone else's card online, $30 buys a "dump," all the information you need to copy a card and set off on your own real-world shopping spree with somebody else's plastic.
There are millions of stolen accounts available, hacked from banks and online sellers, or swiped at cash machines. The FBI recently reclaimed 1.5m numbers from one seller alone. You can sort by type, MasterCard, Visa, or American Express, by geography, or just stick to business cards for their higher balances. There's no need to fear getting ripped off. Criminals peer-review each other's sites. It's eBay for crooks.
Mularski knows a thing or two about cybercrime. For two years he ran one of the biggest underworld crime sites in the world. Using the pseudonym Master Splynter (a nod to the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Mularski masqueraded as a spammer, winning the confidence of online crooks and eventually taking over as host of Dark Market, at the time the largest online forum for cybercriminals. The sting was a big victory for the US authorities, which, along with other governments, have struggled to keep up with the rapidly spreading threat.
To read the full story click here: FBI fights back against cybercrime
Until cybercrime is abolished or at least under control to some degree, it is up to each individual within their respective organizations to take personal responsibility for Internet security awareness. Now is the time to proof up your employees against cybercrime; the means is with Internet security awareness training. Take a free Internet security phishing test!
Stu Sjouwerman
KnowBe4
