Russian Hacking Crimes Continue

from the no-change dept

Yesterday we had the first two parts of the story of some Russian hackers who broke into US systems and extorted money from their owners - until they were caught by US authorities in a sting operation that brought them to the US to apply for a job. The final part of the series makes the point that the arrests have done little to nothing to slow down the hacking group's extortion efforts. They also point out that many in Russia don't see what they did as a crime. To them, it's a way of "advertising" their services, even if it did involve stolen credit cards and threats if they weren't "hired". A former professor of the two hackers is "proud" of what they accomplished. I'll admit that, generally speaking, the US is pretty bad when it comes to prosecuting hackers - especially in determining how serious the crime actually is. However, extortion seems like a pretty straightforward criminal matter.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.