5 ms·

The 'Fly' Has Been Swatted

125 points by zerny 12y ago

kyrra 12y ago
It's not clear in the post; why was Krebs targeted by this criminal?
- webkike 12y ago
  It may simply be because Krebs has a history of unveiling important members of the cyber crime business.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Or it may simply be that 'owning' Krebs has the effect of boosting some stupid kids' standing.
  - DaveWalk 12y ago
    And that Krebs finds his way into many criminal forums, one of which the accused was running.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  It doesn't look like Krebs knows.
ragsagar 12y ago
This link is blocked in UAE. :-\
- w-ll 12y ago
  How about http://krebsonsecurity.com.nyud.net/2014/06/the-fly-has-been-swatted/ http://krebsonsecurity.com.nyud.net/2014/06/the-fly-has-been...
templeos2 12y ago
Bill Gates says, "You know binary. You're a hacker. Nudge nudge wink wink." Evil fucker will be punished by God, stupit nigger.
rdtsc 12y ago
The thing here that what was being exploited is irrationality of the system that uses these made up "Wars On <X>". Whatever this <X> is, it will always be boon for psychopaths and will be a exploited. War on Terrorism -- send tips about so and so is building bombs or talking about jihad. War on Drugs -- plant or send someone a drug package and notify police. One worse, SWAT them. With good luck they will be shot by the cops. War on Kids via Zero Tolerance -- plant a piece of toast looking like a gun in someone's bag and tell a teacher. War on Electronic Crime (Hacking) -- plant a DoS tool pointed to a .mil website on enemy's machine or network. The list goes on. Of course in this case we have a good ending so that is encouraging. But the scary part is not that someone would wish all this harm to another person and come up with scheme like this, but that knowing how prosecution works, how Wars On <X> work, this seems like a very close call. It is the lack of faith in justice and the system to act rationally that is scary. Maybe the neighbor who is building bombs got a visit from FBI and they couldn't charge him. But they visited his work. Scared his kids. And ultimately put him on a watch list so from then on they get harassed every time they travel.
- slapshot 12y ago
  But one of the most effective tactics of The Fly was a traditional SWATting based on a false phone call that Kreb's wife had been murdered in the house. 13 police officers showed up, heavily armed, because of the War on What? Murder? Domestic Violence? All of this long predates any War on ____. Your examples could just as easily be "send tips that so and so plans to rob a bank." There's no "War on Bank Robbers" but it'd be no less effective.
  - pyre 12y ago
    You're missing a couple of points: - The militarization of local police forces is largely thanks to the War on Drugs. - The effects of a "SWATing" are amplified by the militarization of the police. If, for example, someone called in a murder in the 1950's, would the police come in guns-blazing shooting anything, and everything in their path, dropping flashbang grenades on sleeping children? - Had the package of drugs arrived without Krebs being 'in on it,' then he would be in violation of the law because he possessed an illegal substance. The War on Drugs has given us the idea that merely possessing something is enough to get you jail time. This allows malicious actors to arrange for an illegal item to find its way into your possession... The police and prosecution hear "I was set up!" a lot. I'm sure they wouldn't pay much attention to just another cry of innocence (though being a white male in good social standing probably increases the odds).
comex 12y ago
> According to a trusted source in the security community, that email account [belonging to 'Fly'] was somehow compromised last year. Right... I'm sure it was just a source who themselves got the information legally secondhand, and that Krebs had nothing to do with it. ;)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

125 points by zerny 12y ago

kyrra 12y ago

It's not clear in the post; why was Krebs targeted by this criminal?

webkike 12y ago
It may simply be because Krebs has a history of unveiling important members of the cyber crime business.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Or it may simply be that 'owning' Krebs has the effect of boosting some stupid kids' standing.
- DaveWalk 12y ago
  And that Krebs finds his way into many criminal forums, one of which the accused was running.
snowwrestler 12y ago
It doesn't look like Krebs knows.

ragsagar 12y ago

This link is blocked in UAE. :-\

w-ll 12y ago
How about http://krebsonsecurity.com.nyud.net/2014/06/the-fly-has-been-swatted/ http://krebsonsecurity.com.nyud.net/2014/06/the-fly-has-been...

templeos2 12y ago

Bill Gates says, "You know binary. You're a hacker. Nudge nudge wink wink." Evil fucker will be punished by God, stupit nigger.

rdtsc 12y ago

The thing here that what was being exploited is irrationality of the system that uses these made up "Wars On <X>". Whatever this <X> is, it will always be boon for psychopaths and will be a exploited. War on Terrorism -- send tips about so and so is building bombs or talking about jihad. War on Drugs -- plant or send someone a drug package and notify police. One worse, SWAT them. With good luck they will be shot by the cops. War on Kids via Zero Tolerance -- plant a piece of toast looking like a gun in someone's bag and tell a teacher. War on Electronic Crime (Hacking) -- plant a DoS tool pointed to a .mil website on enemy's machine or network. The list goes on. Of course in this case we have a good ending so that is encouraging. But the scary part is not that someone would wish all this harm to another person and come up with scheme like this, but that knowing how prosecution works, how Wars On <X> work, this seems like a very close call. It is the lack of faith in justice and the system to act rationally that is scary. Maybe the neighbor who is building bombs got a visit from FBI and they couldn't charge him. But they visited his work. Scared his kids. And ultimately put him on a watch list so from then on they get harassed every time they travel.

slapshot 12y ago
But one of the most effective tactics of The Fly was a traditional SWATting based on a false phone call that Kreb's wife had been murdered in the house. 13 police officers showed up, heavily armed, because of the War on What? Murder? Domestic Violence? All of this long predates any War on ____. Your examples could just as easily be "send tips that so and so plans to rob a bank." There's no "War on Bank Robbers" but it'd be no less effective.
- pyre 12y ago
  You're missing a couple of points: - The militarization of local police forces is largely thanks to the War on Drugs. - The effects of a "SWATing" are amplified by the militarization of the police. If, for example, someone called in a murder in the 1950's, would the police come in guns-blazing shooting anything, and everything in their path, dropping flashbang grenades on sleeping children? - Had the package of drugs arrived without Krebs being 'in on it,' then he would be in violation of the law because he possessed an illegal substance. The War on Drugs has given us the idea that merely possessing something is enough to get you jail time. This allows malicious actors to arrange for an illegal item to find its way into your possession... The police and prosecution hear "I was set up!" a lot. I'm sure they wouldn't pay much attention to just another cry of innocence (though being a white male in good social standing probably increases the odds).

comex 12y ago

> According to a trusted source in the security community, that email account [belonging to 'Fly'] was somehow compromised last year. Right... I'm sure it was just a source who themselves got the information legally secondhand, and that Krebs had nothing to do with it. ;)

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]