February 19th, 2007
Identity theft is not just about criminal kiddies
The perception, thanks to the history of virus writers, that cyber criminals are young hackers holed away in hovels in Romania is not entirely accurate. As a matter of fact that perception is rapidly becoming totally wrong. Did you see this article from last December?
"The sophisticated international operation saw tens of thousands of British, American and Spanish account holders defrauded out of millions of pounds."
All this led by Anton Dolgov, former head of the Moscow City Bank which collapsed under the weight of excessive debt in 1994. Who was sentenced to six years in jail.
"As the "general manager" of the operation, he is thought to have a huge fortune stashed in secret Russian bank accounts waiting for him when he finally emerges from prison. "
The level of organization and the scale of the operation described is chilling. So when you are designing your defense mechanisms and planning your online operations do not think that your advisary is a teenager with limited resources. Imagine Anton Dolgov sitting at the center of a multi-million dollar operation seeking to defraud you and your customers.
Travel notice: I am making my way around Europe and the Mideast these days. In Stockholm today, Paris, Frankfurt, and Milan the rest of the week and Istanbul and London next week. Drop me a line if our paths cross!
Security blogger's event at RSA: The Podtech folks were present at our little get together in San Francisco two weeks ago. See the video here.
Richard Stiennon is an industry consultant. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
