Cape Town - For a glimpse of the underworld of cyber crime, there’s no better (legal) guide than the US Secret Service.
And Special Agent Michael Burgin offered the Crime Stoppers International convention audience just that this week, in a whirlwind tour of the underground criminal webs online.
“Anything you want to buy, you can buy – for a price,” Burgin said.
Screenshots of Russian websites offered hints at what might be for sale: conventional bad-guy equipment like weapons and explosives, but also more subtle products for the modern-day crook, such as credit card details and stolen data.
According to Burgin, automated websites completely changed the nature of cyber crime. Instead of using the internet to communicate with a specific person, sitting at a computer somewhere on the planet – with a traceable IP address – illegal purchases can now be completely anonymous.
“Now I can go on to a site and buy compromised data like shopping on Amazon – it’s that easy,” Burgin said.
Websites such as Cvvshop.com sell credit card details en masse to criminals, who then take those details and go on a withdrawal spree – often using accomplices across the world.
In 2007, an example of a credit card breach meant a loss of around $5-million. Now, large-scale data breaches steal the details of 20 million cards at once.
“It’s crazy to think one person had control over that many credit cards,” Burgin said.
The losses incurred are massive. In 36 hours in 2011, $25m was stolen through 5 000 transactions in 18 countries across the world. This reveals the sheer scale of the criminal organisation, and its efficient command structure. The Secret Service has identified eastern Europe as the world’s hub of cyber crime, but it’s a truly transnational, cross-border business as crooks exchange cash across continents in the internet age.
“There’s a booming online criminal network. It’s a global problem.”
Burgin worked for the Internal Revenue Service for 10 years before becoming a special agent at the US Secret Service. During his career there, he worked for the criminal investigative division as well as the cyber intelligence division, and is now serving as an assistant attaché for the US embassy in Italy.
Cape Argus