Facebook of cybercrime shut down

Posted on 18/01/2010 by Rich Adams
DarkMarket, Facebook

It will come as no surprise that cyber crime is a serious and growing problem. Where once the name of the game was simply chaos and bragging rights, a new breed of financially motivated hacker has emerged.

Using sophisticated programs and techniques, these criminals steal information from networks and databases around the world. What may come as a suprise, however, is how openly many of them operate. This comes after a group in the UK were recently exposed for running a website where data fraudsters could buy and sell stolen information freely.

They ran the DarkMarket website from an anonymous looking internet café in Wembley, North West London. The site had around 2000 vendors who traded everything from card details (obtained through hacking, phishing and ATM skimming devices) to viruses – with which to extort money from organisations.

Run like an ordinary website, it had administrators and moderators. Reviewers could even voice their opinions regarding ‘customer satisfaction.’ It even featured breaking-news-style updates on the latest compromised material available, while criminals could buy banner adverts to promote their wares.

One might think that such a blatant disregard for the law could be easily dispatched, but it took the joint efforts of both the FBI and our very own SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) to finally bring DarkMarket down.

Ex Pizza Hut worker Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, was today revealed is its founder, and was due to stand trial before pleading guilty last week. He is currently awaiting sentence. Here's a look at what his DarMarket site could supply:

Dumps: data from magnetic stripes on batches of 10 cards. Standard cards: $50. Gold/platinum: $80. Corporate: $180.
Card verification values: information needed for online transactions. $3-$10 depending on quality.
Full information/change of billing:  $150 for account with $10,000 balance. $300 for one with $20,000 balance.
Skimmer: device to read card data. Up to $7,000.
Bank logins: 2% of available balance.
Hire of botnet: software robots used in spam attacks. $50 a day.
Credit card images: both sides of card. $30 each.
Embossed card blanks: $50 each. 
Card holograms: $5 per 100.

IT inventions I would like to see in 2010.

Posted on 27/11/2009 by Rich Adams
Facebook, iPhone, Lab Innovation

With December nearly upon us, and the year drawing to a close, I thought I’d look ahead and highlight a couple of IT innovations I’d like to see invented in 2010:

An iPhone app that stops people going on about their iPhones

Yes, yes… I know the iPhone is pretty good. I know this because there is an endless stream of people telling me so – usually as if they were the first to discover it, like some sort of geeky Indiana Jones.

Oh, they say, it’s all about the apps! Some are pretty handy I’ll admit, but… Basically, there are two types of people: normal people, and those who think apps like UK Payphone Location (you’re carrying a phone for goodness sake!) and the one that tells you where you parked (if you can’t remember you shouldn’t be on the road) are a good idea. No one in this second group has ever kissed a girl!

A ‘dislike’ button on Facebook

While Facebook can be pretty useful for catching up with old friends from yesteryear, too many people are using it:

• As the world’s biggest popularity contest, collecting 100s of friends they will never contact.
• To send us all to sleep with status updates like ‘I’m bored’ – thanks… so am I, now!
• To stalk exes.

Too many people have got nothing to say, but are going to say it anyway. It would be good to tell them so with the click of a button. Maybe I’ll just stop using Facebook?.. mmmmmm... Nah!