NyPo has the scoop:
This baby-faced teen is a key suspect in developing the software that was used in the massive security breach that hit as many as 110 million Target shoppers last holiday season, according to a shocking new report.
In addition, the malicious software, or malware, has infected the payment systems of six other retailers — a possible sign that a half-dozen other attacks are underway, a California cyber-security firm said in the report.
The firm, IntelCrawler, which has tracked the malware’s architect for months, said on Friday that its main suspect is this boy in the photo.
He’s a 17-year-old with “roots” in St.Petersburg, Russia, who goes by the online nickname “ree4,” according to the report and conversations with executives from IntelCrawler. IntelCrawler CEO Andrew Komarov didn’t accuse the young man of the Target heist but said he believes he developed the software used to skim credit card numbers and other personal data from millions of Target shoppers.
The malware, known as BlackPOS, has been downloaded at least 60 times since it was created, Komarov said.
IntelCrawler has alerted US authorities and Visa of the fresh attack targets, Komarov said.
The CEO said he started investigating the malware case last March at the request of banking clients. He pretended to be a “bad actor” seeking to acquire BlackPOS, which was originally called Kaptoxa, Russian slang for potato.
The architect was selling the malware for $2,000 a pop, but offered discounts to buyers who agreed to split the profits they reaped from the product, Komarov said.
After Target revealed that its massive security breach was due to BlackPOS, Komarov went back to track down the architect’s ID.
What % of the NSA budget was used to fund the hackers who found, created and cataloged the exploits used by this teenager to assemble his malware (if this story is even true)? Why is the NSA feeding criminals? Because other govts and bad people are doing it is not a good answer. If you are supporting the terrorists, you must be a terrorist, right?
ReplyDeleteWhat % of the NSA budget was used to fix security vulnerabilities? Probably close to 0%.
Same thing goes for the CIA jokers. Your meddling created the Al Qaeda and its spawn. You provide them with funding and with arms. You own that mess. And now your excuse, your raison d'etre is that you are needed for the purpose of providing "intelligence" about the Al Qaeda? How much do you people have to torture common sense before there is a revolt against you?
Good questions, but the MSM will never ask them.
DeleteYou'd think that the NSA, with all of its information gathering, would have been able to track down this guy.
ReplyDeleteOh, you mean the NSA Intel gathering is simply worthless? Go figure!
Financial crime. Not terrorism, not national security, not SIGINT. NSA has no jurisdiction.
ReplyDeleteGod help us if we ever ask them to "do something" about crimes like this.
Yup. Just another hard-core American teenaged terrorist. Render him to "Ka Bull". Waterboard the motherfucker. Cut off his nuts.
ReplyDeleteHe's a threat to the American people and our "beloved" Nazi government. Why if we let him get away with this, who knows what will happen - dogs living with cats - total pandemonium.
I mean, what's next, hacking the NSA? Ooooops - shit - too late...
I know NC is pretty lefty, but this makes a good argument against 'net neutrality' (which it ain't). Remember our taxpayer dollars went into creating the Internet.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/blogs-like-naked-capitalism-depend-net-neutrality-reason-enough-destroy.html
'Net neutrality' would work if there weren't regional monopolies/cartels. But there are, so it won't.
Still time to smell the coffee on this, Wenzel... ;)