I watch Dr. Phil from time to time. Many of my readers have probably done so, but few will likely admit it. My favorite episodes are the ones where Dr. Phil exposes people being scammed to the scammers they are in love with/married to/associated with in some way. It is entertaining, sad, depressing, and perhaps a moment of schadenfreude for myself and other viewers as the crestfallen mark realizes that he/she has been duped out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by an email scam, usually of the infamous Nigerian variety. On a somewhat related note, the BBC posted this article describing the theft of $1 billion USD from "up to 100 banks and financial institutions" going on around the world since 2013 by hackers based in Russia, Ukraine, and China. After all the neverending headlines of money disappearing into the dark underbelly of cyberspace, I wondered if any of this money could find its way to terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram, IS, or al-Qaeda. I took my inquiries to my friend, Dr. Joshua I. James of UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics to ask him for more information on this topic.
BGB: Have you ever found a credible link between phone scamming and theft via hacking or computer fraud and Islamic Terrorist groups?
JIJ: You mean as a source of funding? Indirectly. Their main funding comes from slave trade and drugs. Hacking, etc is more mafia money. Not to say they dont do it, but it is not the main source for most groups. But groups do hack for info and intelligence. Nigerian scams may just be a way to infect someone's machine and get access to data, not only for money but also intel.
BGB: I read on the BBC recently that 1 billion USD has been stolen in what Kaspersky Labs called an "unprecedented" cyber bank robbery. What does this money go toward in these types of situations? And who is taking it?
JIJ: I've not seen the evidence so i cant say exactly, but I would guess it is either big organized crime or government sponsored. The fact that it had been going on so long means that its probably not a small operation. If so then the money will be invested into education for new hackers, and also used for drugs and other businesses.
BGB: So are there mafia type organizations that have private armies of hackers?
JIJ: Think of them like consultants: Independent hackers that specialize in something [criminal organizations] need. There are many small groups that specialize in one piece of the puzzle. For example, you need about 20 different services to start building botnets. So that's 20 small specialty hacker groups, and these groups compete for business. But, some organized crime groups have their own [in-house hackers]. Just like a normal business, really.
BGB: I was going to say, this all sounds very slick and professional.
JIJ: It is more professional than most legitimate business, and more innovative, too. That's why governments can't keep up. But does it go to fund terrorism? I've not seen a direct link, just indirect. Downloading a movie online indirectly funds terrorism. Buying a taco at Taco Bell does, too. All money is connected. But I've not seen terrorist groups like IS doing scams for cash. They can make a lot of money much easier, so they don't need to scam. Scamming is for groups that want to make money, but avoid police. IS could care less about police, obviously.
Update: Indeed, it seems, as Dr. James stated, that IS does have several diverse and heinous means of raising funds beyond that of email scams.
Dr. Joshua I. James is a research fellow at UCD Ireland. He currently resides in Seoul, South Korea, where he works with South Korean law enforcement on cybercrime and investigative methods in digital forensic research.
BGB: Have you ever found a credible link between phone scamming and theft via hacking or computer fraud and Islamic Terrorist groups?
JIJ: You mean as a source of funding? Indirectly. Their main funding comes from slave trade and drugs. Hacking, etc is more mafia money. Not to say they dont do it, but it is not the main source for most groups. But groups do hack for info and intelligence. Nigerian scams may just be a way to infect someone's machine and get access to data, not only for money but also intel.
BGB: I read on the BBC recently that 1 billion USD has been stolen in what Kaspersky Labs called an "unprecedented" cyber bank robbery. What does this money go toward in these types of situations? And who is taking it?
JIJ: I've not seen the evidence so i cant say exactly, but I would guess it is either big organized crime or government sponsored. The fact that it had been going on so long means that its probably not a small operation. If so then the money will be invested into education for new hackers, and also used for drugs and other businesses.
BGB: So are there mafia type organizations that have private armies of hackers?
JIJ: Think of them like consultants: Independent hackers that specialize in something [criminal organizations] need. There are many small groups that specialize in one piece of the puzzle. For example, you need about 20 different services to start building botnets. So that's 20 small specialty hacker groups, and these groups compete for business. But, some organized crime groups have their own [in-house hackers]. Just like a normal business, really.
BGB: I was going to say, this all sounds very slick and professional.
JIJ: It is more professional than most legitimate business, and more innovative, too. That's why governments can't keep up. But does it go to fund terrorism? I've not seen a direct link, just indirect. Downloading a movie online indirectly funds terrorism. Buying a taco at Taco Bell does, too. All money is connected. But I've not seen terrorist groups like IS doing scams for cash. They can make a lot of money much easier, so they don't need to scam. Scamming is for groups that want to make money, but avoid police. IS could care less about police, obviously.
Update: Indeed, it seems, as Dr. James stated, that IS does have several diverse and heinous means of raising funds beyond that of email scams.
Dr. Joshua I. James is a research fellow at UCD Ireland. He currently resides in Seoul, South Korea, where he works with South Korean law enforcement on cybercrime and investigative methods in digital forensic research.
No comments:
Post a Comment