The site, www.exposed.eu — ran by hackers presumed to be Russian or from a former Soviet country — said goodbye in a rambling message that poked fun at the nearly two-week-long attack on celebrities and politicians, which revealed details of their financial information.
By Ginger Adams Otis / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, March 16, 2013, 9:45 PM
Updated: Saturday, March 16, 2013, 9:45 PM
exposed.su
Screen grab of hacker web site www.exposed.su.
They were looking for loot, but instead got some laughs.
The cyberthieves who hacked into America’s three major credit-history databases and posted sensitive financial information about scores of celebrities last week — from Michelle Obama to Bill Gates — were trolling for big bank accounts to plunder, according to experts.
But when they came across a treasure trove of high-profile names, they couldn’t resist putting the information online.
“It’s extra fun for them, probably a little bit of celebrity gazing,” said Jim Lewis, a senior fellow and director of technology at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The hackers’ fun was short-lived, however. They posted a farewell
message on their website Saturday — and hours later, the site was down.
RELATED: HACKER TAKES $ INFO FROM JAY-Z, HIL CLINTON, OTHERS
“We have enjoyed every minute of the past 12 days of providing entertainment and laughs to all of you,” the rambling message read, according to TMZ.com. “Sadly it’s time to say bon voyage — we hope — inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love.”
“If you believe that God makes miracles, you have to wonder if Satan has a few up his sleeve.”
As the cyberthieves gleefully exploited their targets last weekend, the celebrities affected certainly weren’t laughing.
Bill Gates’ spokesman issued a terse “No comment,” while calls to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s publicist weren’t returned.
Hulk Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston, said the postings created a “huge headache” for the former wrestling star, who didn’t lose any money but has to take numerous steps to protect himself in the future, Houston said.
RELATED: FBI INVESTIGATING HACKERS WHO POSTED PRIVATE INFO OF CELEBS, POLITICIANS
“We are investigating,” was the FBI’s only comment about the
cyberexposure, which revealed sensitive info not just about the First
Lady but also Vice President Biden, the LAPD chief, U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder and entertainers like Ashton Kutcher, Paris Hilton
and Kim Kardashian.
The hackers are presumed to be Russian or from a former Soviet Union country for two reasons: the www.exposed.su site they created to “dox” a host of celebrities was registered there, and that region leads the world in financial cybercrimes, said Lewis.
The thieves might have dipped into some of the accounts of their celebrity victims while they were trolling around, he said. But it’s more than likely that real victims haven’t been revealed — regular Americans who woke up one morning to discover a couple thousand dollars missing from their bank account, or that their identity had been used to buy a Ferrari somewhere in the former Soviet Union.
“We’ll never know how many people actually got hit by this, because the banks won’t tell,” said Lewis. “Don’t forget, no matter how much fun they have toying with celebrities, what they’re actually going after is money, and these hackers will spend considerable time and effort getting it.”
Credit-reporting companies, custodians of sensitive personal data from
credit-card balances to mortgage debts, are treasure chests for
money-skimming thieves. Experian was breached 86 times in October via
the accounts of organizations such as banks or auto dealers, according
to Bloomberg News.
RELATED: COLIN POWELL’S EMAILS INFILTRATED BY HACKER ‘GUCCIFER’
“This is the modern way of mugging someone, but you don’t have to go outside and confront your target. Hacking is low-risk and has a high payoff, but you do have to put in a lot of hard work upfront,” said Lewis.
Financial crime is a booming underworld industry in parts of the former Soviet Union — so much so that local governments are frequently willing to turn a blind eye. Hackers can usually operate with impunity in areas outside U.S. and Western European jurisdiction as long as they observe three rules, said Lewis: buy off the local cops, don’t hack the neighborhood bank and be prepared to do favors for high-ranking state officials.
In 2007, Estonia suffered a wave of “denial of service” attacks on its
banks and state-run facilities, essentially shutting the sites down. The
cyberattack was attributed to Russian criminals, but global security
experts believe the criminals acted at the request of national officials
in Russia’s security forces, said Lewis.
Russian officials rely on criminals as a “proxy force” when dirty work needs to be done online but the government wants to maintain plausible deniability, he said.
Thanks to the cozy relationship between some law enforcement agencies and cyberhackers in certain parts of the world, financial crimes are getting more sophisticated and more brazen.
RELATED: JOURNALIST CHARGED IN HACKING CONSPIRACY SUSPENDED
In 2011, a group of cybercriminals pulled off a $9 million heist over
Labor Day weekend, targeting specific American banks around the country.
The thieves had gotten the personal banking information of several
dozen wealthy U.S. residents, and over a long holiday weekend they
hacked into the accounts and increased their spending limits to
$500,000.
They sent operatives to the banks armed with forged bank cards with real account numbers, and withdrew the maximum $500,000 in each account.
The hackers waited a day, then replenished all the accounts with another $500,000 — and sent their operatives in again to withdraw the cash.
That heist was an amazing haul even by hacker standards, said Lewis. Most get rich by taking smaller amounts — a couple of hundred on the low end and tens of thousands on the high end — from many people over many years.
“Collectively, cybercriminals are stealing hundreds of millions a year,” said Lewis.
RELATED: HACKER BREAKS INTO ACCOUNTS OF FORMER CLINTON AIDE
An average hacker makes a six-figure salary, he said, or a little less depending on how much they have to pay out to cops. The most successful ones run their business like a private enterprise, with an eye toward their bottom line.
They’ve invested time in creating computer programs that will search hacked PCs for anything that contains the word “password,” or “account,” or is a random string of letters and numbers at least eight digits long.
Hackers scan financial newspapers looking for names of CEOs and top executives for major corporations. They can spend weeks combing over online data in an attempt to piece together the personal information of a deep-pocketed target.
Hackers like to embed popular websites with password-searching viruses. Visitors who click are unknowingly letting a cybercriminal right into their online world.
That was the case a few years ago when Russian criminals infected the Super Bowl website a few weeks before the big game, said Lewis. “People were visiting the site like crazy, and that’s exactly the sort of thing they’re looking for,” he said.
Over the past five years, the FBI has become adept at tracking the world’s worst cybercriminals — but most live beyond U.S. jurisdiction.
Perhaps the only drawback for these hackers is that they can never leave the confines of the former Soviet countries that tolerate their crimes. They have to vacation along the Black Sea, where a rash of Russian resort towns cater to cybercriminals.
“One hacker made the mistake of going to Turkey on vacation, and he was arrested right away,” said Lewis.
With Nancy Dillon
The cyberthieves who hacked into America’s three major credit-history databases and posted sensitive financial information about scores of celebrities last week — from Michelle Obama to Bill Gates — were trolling for big bank accounts to plunder, according to experts.
But when they came across a treasure trove of high-profile names, they couldn’t resist putting the information online.
“It’s extra fun for them, probably a little bit of celebrity gazing,” said Jim Lewis, a senior fellow and director of technology at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS
Singer Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z were both attacked by hackers.
RELATED: HACKER TAKES $ INFO FROM JAY-Z, HIL CLINTON, OTHERS
“We have enjoyed every minute of the past 12 days of providing entertainment and laughs to all of you,” the rambling message read, according to TMZ.com. “Sadly it’s time to say bon voyage — we hope — inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love.”
“If you believe that God makes miracles, you have to wonder if Satan has a few up his sleeve.”
Alex Wong/Getty Images
First lady Michelle Obama was attacked by hackers.
Bill Gates’ spokesman issued a terse “No comment,” while calls to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s publicist weren’t returned.
Hulk Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston, said the postings created a “huge headache” for the former wrestling star, who didn’t lose any money but has to take numerous steps to protect himself in the future, Houston said.
RELATED: FBI INVESTIGATING HACKERS WHO POSTED PRIVATE INFO OF CELEBS, POLITICIANS
Jonathan Short/AP
Kim Kardashian was one of the celebrities targeted by hackers.
The hackers are presumed to be Russian or from a former Soviet Union country for two reasons: the www.exposed.su site they created to “dox” a host of celebrities was registered there, and that region leads the world in financial cybercrimes, said Lewis.
The thieves might have dipped into some of the accounts of their celebrity victims while they were trolling around, he said. But it’s more than likely that real victims haven’t been revealed — regular Americans who woke up one morning to discover a couple thousand dollars missing from their bank account, or that their identity had been used to buy a Ferrari somewhere in the former Soviet Union.
“We’ll never know how many people actually got hit by this, because the banks won’t tell,” said Lewis. “Don’t forget, no matter how much fun they have toying with celebrities, what they’re actually going after is money, and these hackers will spend considerable time and effort getting it.”
Darron Cummings/AP
Ashton Kutcher was one of the celebrities targeted by hackers.
RELATED: COLIN POWELL’S EMAILS INFILTRATED BY HACKER ‘GUCCIFER’
“This is the modern way of mugging someone, but you don’t have to go outside and confront your target. Hacking is low-risk and has a high payoff, but you do have to put in a lot of hard work upfront,” said Lewis.
Financial crime is a booming underworld industry in parts of the former Soviet Union — so much so that local governments are frequently willing to turn a blind eye. Hackers can usually operate with impunity in areas outside U.S. and Western European jurisdiction as long as they observe three rules, said Lewis: buy off the local cops, don’t hack the neighborhood bank and be prepared to do favors for high-ranking state officials.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Attorney General Eric Holder was also targeted by hackers looking for cash.
Russian officials rely on criminals as a “proxy force” when dirty work needs to be done online but the government wants to maintain plausible deniability, he said.
Thanks to the cozy relationship between some law enforcement agencies and cyberhackers in certain parts of the world, financial crimes are getting more sophisticated and more brazen.
RELATED: JOURNALIST CHARGED IN HACKING CONSPIRACY SUSPENDED
Julie Jacobson/AP
Paris Hilton's personal information was exposed by hackers.
They sent operatives to the banks armed with forged bank cards with real account numbers, and withdrew the maximum $500,000 in each account.
The hackers waited a day, then replenished all the accounts with another $500,000 — and sent their operatives in again to withdraw the cash.
That heist was an amazing haul even by hacker standards, said Lewis. Most get rich by taking smaller amounts — a couple of hundred on the low end and tens of thousands on the high end — from many people over many years.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Even the Vice President Joe Biden was attacked by hackers.
RELATED: HACKER BREAKS INTO ACCOUNTS OF FORMER CLINTON AIDE
An average hacker makes a six-figure salary, he said, or a little less depending on how much they have to pay out to cops. The most successful ones run their business like a private enterprise, with an eye toward their bottom line.
They’ve invested time in creating computer programs that will search hacked PCs for anything that contains the word “password,” or “account,” or is a random string of letters and numbers at least eight digits long.
Hackers scan financial newspapers looking for names of CEOs and top executives for major corporations. They can spend weeks combing over online data in an attempt to piece together the personal information of a deep-pocketed target.
Hackers like to embed popular websites with password-searching viruses. Visitors who click are unknowingly letting a cybercriminal right into their online world.
That was the case a few years ago when Russian criminals infected the Super Bowl website a few weeks before the big game, said Lewis. “People were visiting the site like crazy, and that’s exactly the sort of thing they’re looking for,” he said.
Over the past five years, the FBI has become adept at tracking the world’s worst cybercriminals — but most live beyond U.S. jurisdiction.
Perhaps the only drawback for these hackers is that they can never leave the confines of the former Soviet countries that tolerate their crimes. They have to vacation along the Black Sea, where a rash of Russian resort towns cater to cybercriminals.
“One hacker made the mistake of going to Turkey on vacation, and he was arrested right away,” said Lewis.
With Nancy Dillon
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/hackers-cash-find-laughs-celebrity-accounts-article-1.1290945#ixzz2NmIuHxfe
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