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| Cyber Criminal |
An japanese European pack of cyber thieves called the Rove cluster hijacked a minimum of four million computers in over a hundred countries, together with a minimum of [*fr1] 1,000,000 computers within the U.S., to form off with $14 million in "illegitimate income" before they were caught, federal officers announced nowadays.
The malware allegedly utilized in the "massive and complex scheme" additionally managed to infect computers in U.S. government agencies together with NASA and targeted the websites for major establishments like iTunes, Netflix and therefore the IRS -- forcing users making an attempt to urge to those sites to completely different websites entirely, per a federal indictment unsealed in big apple nowadays.
The accused hackers, six Estonian nationals and a Russian national, rerouted net|the web|the net} traffic illegally on the infected computers for the last four years so as to reap profits from internet advertisement deals, the indictment said. The FBI busted up the alleged international cyber ring when a two-year investigation referred to as Operation Ghost Click.
"The global reach of these cyber thieves demonstrates that the criminal world is... flat," said Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI Assistant Director in charge of the New York field office. "The Internet is pervasive because it is such a useful tool, but it is a tool that can be exploited by those with bad intentions and a little know-how."
Though they operated out of their home countries, the alleged hackers used entities in the U.S. and all over the world -- including Estonia-based software company Rove Digital from which the group apparently gets its name -- to carry out the plot.
According to the indictment, the suspects entered into deals with various internet advertisers in which they would be paid for generating traffic to certain websites or advertisements. But instead of earning the money legitimately, the FBI said the defendants used malware to force infected computers to unwillingly visit the target sites or advertisements -- pumping up click results and, therefore, ill-gotten profits to the tune of $14 million.
The malware was also designed to prevent users from installing anti-virus software that may have been able to free the infected computers.
The six Estonian nationals have been arrested on cyber crime charges while the Russian national remains at large.
"Today, with the flip of a switch, the FBI and our partners dismantled the Rove criminal enterprise," Fedarcyk said. "Thanks to the collective effort across the U.S. and in Estonia, six leaders of the criminal enterprise have been arrested and numerous servers operated by the criminal organization have been disabled."
How the Fraud Worked, According to the FBI
The indictment describes several examples of alleged cyber fraud including two principle strategies: traffic redirection and ad replacement.
In the first case, if a user searched for the websites of major institutions like iTunes, Netflix or the IRS, the search results would return normally. However, if the user tried to click on the link to the websites, the malware on the computer would force a redirect to a different website where the criminals would profit in their advertisement deal.
In the second, when an infected computer visited a major website -- like Amazon.com -- the malware would be able to simply replace regular advertisements on that page with advertisements of their own making.
The malware allegedly utilized in the "massive and complex scheme" additionally managed to infect computers in U.S. government agencies together with NASA and targeted the websites for major establishments like iTunes, Netflix and therefore the IRS -- forcing users making an attempt to urge to those sites to completely different websites entirely, per a federal indictment unsealed in big apple nowadays.
The accused hackers, six Estonian nationals and a Russian national, rerouted net|the web|the net} traffic illegally on the infected computers for the last four years so as to reap profits from internet advertisement deals, the indictment said. The FBI busted up the alleged international cyber ring when a two-year investigation referred to as Operation Ghost Click.
"The global reach of these cyber thieves demonstrates that the criminal world is... flat," said Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI Assistant Director in charge of the New York field office. "The Internet is pervasive because it is such a useful tool, but it is a tool that can be exploited by those with bad intentions and a little know-how."
Though they operated out of their home countries, the alleged hackers used entities in the U.S. and all over the world -- including Estonia-based software company Rove Digital from which the group apparently gets its name -- to carry out the plot.
According to the indictment, the suspects entered into deals with various internet advertisers in which they would be paid for generating traffic to certain websites or advertisements. But instead of earning the money legitimately, the FBI said the defendants used malware to force infected computers to unwillingly visit the target sites or advertisements -- pumping up click results and, therefore, ill-gotten profits to the tune of $14 million.
The malware was also designed to prevent users from installing anti-virus software that may have been able to free the infected computers.
The six Estonian nationals have been arrested on cyber crime charges while the Russian national remains at large.
"Today, with the flip of a switch, the FBI and our partners dismantled the Rove criminal enterprise," Fedarcyk said. "Thanks to the collective effort across the U.S. and in Estonia, six leaders of the criminal enterprise have been arrested and numerous servers operated by the criminal organization have been disabled."
How the Fraud Worked, According to the FBI
The indictment describes several examples of alleged cyber fraud including two principle strategies: traffic redirection and ad replacement.
In the first case, if a user searched for the websites of major institutions like iTunes, Netflix or the IRS, the search results would return normally. However, if the user tried to click on the link to the websites, the malware on the computer would force a redirect to a different website where the criminals would profit in their advertisement deal.
In the second, when an infected computer visited a major website -- like Amazon.com -- the malware would be able to simply replace regular advertisements on that page with advertisements of their own making.
News by Yahoo
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