| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Russian criminal syndicate hits regional NY ISP |
| 2008-08-28 |
| A Russian criminal syndicate has been trying to hack into Warwick Valley Telephone's Internet service for weeks, resulting in several service interruptions and, for some users, the complete destruction of their e-mail accounts. "For three weeks, on an hourly basis, Russians were trying to hack into our e-mails," WVT President Duane Albro said Tuesday. "They were successful five times and we had to shut them down." It might sound fantastical, but Internet security experts said the Russian criminal element is constantly attacking companies in an effort to extort them. The idea is to take control of a network and demand payment to give it back. "For smaller companies it can be especially damaging," said Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence for SecureWorks in Atlanta. He said smaller companies, with limited defenses, tend to be more vulnerable. For now, WVT's system is safe, but in the process of boosting security, WVT technicians inadvertently erased the contents of some users' accounts. There was so much data to corral, the company's backup server couldn't handle it all. Albro said about 100 people lost everything over the weekend. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #2 It might sound fantastical, but Internet security experts said the Russian criminal element is constantly attacking companies in an effort to extort them. Anyone reimbursing the Russians for their efforts should be considered guilty of aiding and abetting the criminality. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-08-28 16:13 |
| #1 Time to issue marks of reprisal for these people. One can not win a purely defensive war. How about an X Prize for script kiddies and our hackers who are able to fry any and all machines in the ru root. An executive pardon for anyone caught. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-08-28 15:34 |