Hackers Network Led to Losses in the “Tens of Millions”
A couple of news sources reported recently on the apprehension of hackers behind a 2000+ member hackers forum that went by the name DarkMarket
According to http://www.scmagazineus.com/darkmarket-mastermind-pleads-guilty/article/161483/
“A Sri Lankan man living in London admitted this week to being the mastermind behind the online hacker forum DarkMarket, which has been called one of the most nefarious criminal websites in the world. [...]
The cases resulted from an international investigation involving the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and SOCA, and has been heralded as one of the biggest anti-cybercrime success stories to date, resulting in more than 60 arrests worldwide.”
According to the financial times:
“DarkMarket was set up by Mr Subramaniam and others in late 2005 as a private online community where trusted members could sell credit card and bank account details in the same way as legal goods are traded on auction sites such as Ebay. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency estimate the information sold by the forum’s 2,000 criminal members led to losses of tens of millions of pounds for banks and individuals.”
One thing people should be aware of is that, while this is one of the most publicized cases, many similar underground forums exists. Online fraud is estimated to cost the world over 75 billion dollars per year. Seeing the tip of the iceberg helps to bring awareness to businesses about the importance of information security.
