DarkMarket_ Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You - Misha Glenny [119]
Instead, in response to the DarkMarket affair, hackers, crackers and cyber criminals are burrowing deeper into the digital underground. There is also increasing specialisation in the business. Hackers and malware coders are developing designer programs that target specific systems or seek out particular information. They then sell this to a group that actually supervises the penetration of a financial institution or its customers. Once they have access to the money, they will contact a ‘mule herder’, a person or group who employs ‘money mules’ across the world. There are countless advertisements on websites offering work to people using their computers at home. A number of these are placed by mule herders. The herder asks potential mules to place their bank accounts at the herder’s disposal in exchange for a percentage of the sums flowing through them.
The breaking down of criminal activity into these distinct entities makes it more difficult for law enforcement to identify what is actually going on and who is cooperating with whom. The proliferation of mobile devices and apps also offers huge opportunities to cyber criminals.
The rapid expansion of Internet users presents another major problem. Police in Western Europe have noted that the size of the Chinese criminal hacking community is growing apace. Until recently, the 419 or Advanced Fraud Fee scam was the preserve of West African criminal groups, especially Nigerians, the proud creators of those bizarre emails urgently entreating the recipient to assist in the movement of millions of dollars of a deceased dictator.
419, named after the relevant paragraph in Nigeria’s penal code, is a very old trick – it forms the heart of The Alchemist, a comedy by the Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson. In essence, the fraudster persuades the victim to advance a small sum of money on the promise that this will lead to the victim receiving a much greater amount later on. He then either milks his victim for more money or simply disappears with the first tranche. While possible in Elizabethan times, it was a laborious business. The Internet has made it extremely lucrative because, using spam emails, the criminal can reach an audience of tens of millions. The chances of finding a sucker are very greatly enhanced.
The 419 scam comes in many shapes and sizes. It sometimes arrives as an appeal to rich Westerners to come to the aid of an impoverished African child. Letters, faxes and emails beseeching Americans in particular for funds to erect a new church or bolster a congregation are frequent – in these cases, the motivation of the victims is well intentioned and charitable. Another lucrative prey of the 419 scammers are the lovelorn, in particular middle-aged widows and divorcees who develop virtual relationships with West African toy boys, who slowly leech them of their savings as an advance on sexual dalliance that never comes to pass.
419s are now being dispatched from China in both Chinese and English. This complements a second Chinese hacking speciality, which is the theft of items from MMORPG, an awkward acronym for the awkwardly named Massively Multiple Online Role-Playing Games, such as World of Warcraft, or the ‘real life’ games, Second Life or Habbo Hotel. These all have digital currencies that can be exchanged for genuine money. This in turn invests value in the virtual goods and services, which players can purchase to add to the pleasure of their gaming experience. Although they are not alone, Chinese hackers have learned to ‘steal’ these digital items or monies, which they can convert to actual real-world cash. China’s monumental computing potential remains largely untapped at the moment, yet it is already regarded in most sectors relating to computer security in civilian and military life as second in the global pecking order