12 ms·
Russian Gang Said to Amass More Than a Billion Stolen Internet Credentials
- MangezBien 12y agoIs there any report on what services were compromised?
- ChuckMcM 12y agoIs there a service with a billion users? :-)
- kqr2 12y agoSupposedly facebook: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2703440/Theres-no-escape-Facebook-set-record-stock-high-results-beats-expectations-1-32-BILLION-users-30-mobile.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2703440/There...
- geoffsanders 12y agoArticle states it's from multiple compromised sources...
- awhitty 12y ago"Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable."
- zby 12y agoAll those that don't use placeholders in their SQL code.
- makomk 12y agoNope, because then they wouldn't be able to charge services $120/month to see if they were one of the ones compromised.
- smackfu 12y agoWow, that is some photo the NY Times put on that article.
- jcrei 12y agoSeriously, what is up with that picture? What is the message or point that they are trying to get across with such a picture in that article? is it supposed to add any credibility to the guy or his firm?
- dasil003 12y agoIt indicates that they are literally bursting at the seams with tech things attached to wires.
- joezydeco 12y agoOr, someone stole their server rack.
- Mandatum 12y agoMaybe it says "Hey look, this guy isn't even a professional, but look what he can do. This is the state of security."
- larrys 12y agoNote also the clip art photos on the firms website: http://www.holdsecurity.com/ http://www.holdsecurity.com/ Not only that but if you pull a whois on the domain it has what appears to be Holden's home address. [1] (I won't post that here but anyone interested can find it). The gear hanging by what appears to be ethernet cabling is really bizarre. I mean who does that? Especially if you know someone is taking a picture.. (Something isn't right here..) [1] According to street view.
- dmix 12y agoI noticed they are A/B testing their website, when I switched IP addresses, so you might not see clipart: https://i.imgur.com/aghESl7.png https://i.imgur.com/aghESl7.png https://imgur.com/nDO0STG.png https://imgur.com/nDO0STG.png
- jchysk 12y agoThis is why everyone needs to use LaunchKey.
- pavel_lishin 12y agoI clicked around launchkey.com, and after five clicks, still haven't found any useful content - what is it, how does it work, why should I use it. As far as I can tell, I carry my phone around and it magically does everything to let me into everyplace I'm supposed to be.
- jchysk 12y agoIt's a multi-factor authentication platform. The item, application, or website would have to integrate LaunchKey first. The users would be able to login without using passwords with far greater security. The implementer gets the benefit of not having the liability of storing passwords and an enhanced user experience for their users.
- DomBlack 12y agoI had never heard of this product until now. Who uses it? Why would a company outsource it's authentication to an unknown body?
- jchysk 12y agoIt's relatively new. You can login to sites that support OpenID or directly support LaunchKey. You could also install a WordPress or Drupal plugin. Most businesses you wouldn't realize you're using LaunchKey though because it would be with their own branding. Also, it's much more enterprise focused for large companies to secure their employees' access while making it easier;safer;cheaper for everyone.
- steven2012 12y agoHow much rampant identity theft has to occur before our government admits that it's broken? Leaving things like credit ratings in the hands of 3 incompetent companies like Experian, Equifax and Transunion that control our livelihood is an affront to common decency. As a victim of identity theft, and as someone who took extreme measure to protect himself from identity theft before it occurred, I can tell everyone without a doubt that the only reason why you're not a victim of identity theft is because of random chance. There is no mechanism to protect yourself, and your information is readily available. The only reason why you haven't gotten your identity stolen is because the thieves simply haven't gotten to you yet. It's infuriating that these companies can get away with what is essential libel and not have anything done to them. I shredded all my mail, I haven't given any real information about me on any web site since 1997, never gave out any information about me willy-nilly including applying for too many credit cards, and I never fall for phishing attacks. And yet somehow I found myself victim of identity theft, and it took 2+ years to clean up, and it's still not over. Since so many web sites use Experian data to verify my identity, I've lost a lot of opportunity to get credit, loans, etc, because Experian has mixed my information with the fraudulent information, so I get answers to those automated question wrong. It's truly infuriating, and the system is completely broken, yet no one in government cares.
- sachinag 12y agoLawyer up and sue. I'm assuming you're American because you referenced Experian. FCRA gives you two years.
- justin66 12y agoOr just camp out outside Experian's hq and try to destroy their headquarters using psionic powers. Concentrate really hard! Equal chances of success as suing them but considerably less expensive.
- enraged_camel 12y ago>>Equal chances of success as suing them but considerably less expensive. Also considerably more likely to get you arrested, possibly with overwhelming force.
- joshwa 12y agoFTA: "[T]he Russian hackers have been able to capture credentials on a mass scale using botnets — networks of zombie computers that have been infected with a computer virus — to do their bidding. Any time an infected user visits a website, criminals command the botnet to test that website to see if it is vulnerable to a well-known hacking technique known as a SQL injection, in which a hacker enters commands that cause a database to produce its contents. If the website proves vulnerable, criminals flag the site and return later to extract the full contents of the database. “They audited the Internet,” Mr. Holden said."
- devindotcom 12y agoI called it the digital equivalent of training wild monkeys to steal wallets
- trhway 12y ago> though the Russian government has not historically pursued accused hackers. between a blogger criticizing Putin's regime and a hacker who stole a bunch of millions from an American bank - who do you think the Russian government would go after? :)
- tmp1234519029 12y agoIt would make sense to go after the blogger if you care more about your ideology than some bank's money. I would go after neither of them though.
- trhway 12y agoa government always goes after the ones who present the most danger to it.
- CmonDev 12y agoAt least they will not award them with medals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_of_duty_medals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_o...
- pistle 12y agoThough... when's the last time you heard about an American hacker being extradited or prosecuted for hacking against Russian citizens?
- learc83 12y agoImagine if they wanted to use this for a terrorist attack, or sold the data to someone who did. If they set up a bot net to log into as many bank accounts as possible and transfer money around (even if it were just between a users own accounts or accounts already setup for transfer), banks would basically be forced to shutdown internet banking until they could come up with a solution. The economic losses would be tremendous--it would take forever to sort out the mess.
- smt88 12y agoYou've seen GoldenEye too many times. Evil is selfish, not indiscriminate. Terrorists generally want control over some general area (or their own lives). They don't want to destroy human society. Society is what gives them food, shelter, and all the other things people like to have. What you're describing would take not just one person who wanted to destroy all of human society, but quite a few of them.
- learc83 12y ago>What you're describing would take not just one person who wanted to destroy all of human society, but quite a few of them. Woah...I'm not talking about something destroying all of human society, I'm talking about a group of people who would like to harm specific countries economically--of which there are more than a few. Moving money around like what I'm talking about would result in billions of dollars lost. Worst case scenario a stock market crash followed by a recession, not the end of civilization.
- scoofy 12y agoBefore my wall of text, i first understand the difficulties of network effects, getting credit cards accepted world wide, much less state wide, but i think with the advent of square, stripe, paypal, etc. the barriers to launch are much lower than they were even 5 years ago. I'm sick of banks trying to squeeze every last drop out of the customers, and i'd gladly pay for a banking service rather than be the product it's selling. Credit cards are surviving in the stone age, firms would rather make it easy for you to get yourself in debt that to provide a service that prevents fraud and abuse. So, VC people out there. If you want to make a billion dollars, you should start a bank. People who work for the credit card community, there are simple upgrades that would make life a lot safer. Simple upgrades to make security safer: Chip and pin is low hanging fruit in the US. The fact that most americas have no idea what those threes words mean is an international embarrassment. READ ONLY passwords for bank account information, in addition to different read write options, that have an extra level of security. I'd gladly use services like Mint, except i'd rather not give write power to anyone except me and a browser i only user for banking only at home. Tie credit cards to cell phones. Get a text after EVERY purchase (this would honestly not amount to more than 10 or so texts per day). Have this as opt-out, not opt-in. Yes, i would use this, yes it would effectively stunt any fraud. You would not have to respond to the text at all, however, if you suspect fraud, you can immediately cancel the card. Voice recognition for phone calls. When you take out a card, you are require to read a paragraph or two, and upload, or mail in a recording of your voice. This could immediately alleviate much of the phone security nonsense that i deal with when i'm on the phone. It's not a cure all for passwords, but it's certainly an additional level of security. IP zones for online credit card purchases. I know about five 100 mile radii that i will be making an online purchase from. Add an extra level of security for any time i'm outside of that. As far as credit agencies are concerned, there is a serious issue with quasi-oligopoly situations there. Extremely difficult to disrupt, but developing secure credit vehicles could create incentives for the current oligopoly in credit cards to improve security for their own cards. At the end of the day, i'm more than willing to admit that people themselves are a big part of the problem. Example: a year ago, watching a man freak out on an apple store employee when he would not give a computer to him, that apparently belonged to his son, who gave it to the apple store a week earlier. The son apparently signed off that only he could receive the computer, and only in person. The enraged father was rambling on about how insane it was that they would not surrender the computer to him, and how he would never use apple products again. I wish there were profitable business models for people who actually like following the rules and read the contracts they sign. tl;dr: I don't want a credit card that makes it easy for me to spend money. I have cash for that. Give me a credit card that makes me feel safe entering the number into any website, and i'll gladly pay a premium for it.
- RevRal 12y agoWhat do you mean that the computer accumulated the personal information of every person on earth? That’s it. It knows everything about us, and we think it did this consciously. Yes sir, by manipulating people into doing specific things. What can it do with this information? Well sir, it is going to do what it can to establish the ability to keep this information as up-to-date as possible. Nobody is able to escape. The criminal gangs, Russia and Asia. They were the ones behind this? Yes and no. They each collected enough information and stole it from each other. We have to warn the world! We can’t. It controls everything. What caused this? A Meta-pattern within the human psyche reached into the computer and in turn used the computer to amplify its own motives.
- smt88 12y agoI'm resisting the urge to offer you a tinfoil hat or ask if you're joking. Instead, I'm going to reason through this. The scenario you describe is unlikely. Before such a global catastrophe happens, it's likely that a smaller catastrophe will happen. Like the Titanic, the world will be shocked into preventative action. Governments will make laws. After that, the difficulty in collecting such massive amounts of information will be greater than the value in that information. Even now, requiring proper software security practices would prevent information-theft from being a viable business. You might get the occasional massive haul, but it wouldn't be an epidemic.
- zw123456 12y agoThis might be wild speculation but it just makes me wonder what with the recent sanctions against Russia, you just wonder if their government is actually behind it.
- CmonDev 12y agoThere is so much hate against Russia these days, that risking doing something like that would be a madness.
- smt88 12y agoVladimir Putin is mad. He has done much madder things in recent months and years.
- chatmasta 12y agoAffiliate revenue (of the sort these criminals got from pushing weight loss products) is pocket change to Russia. I am curious, though, so some quick napkin math is in order.. 1.2 billion accounts Modestly estimate they sent emails/posts with 200 million 5 emails from each account Click rate of 0.01% Landing page -> offer conversion rate of 15% Credit card details conversion of 5% $15 commission on each lead = $112,000 Even if you tweak that to send more emails or use more accounts, the number is still going to be somewhere around $10-15 million. Not that much.
- blumkvist 12y agocommissions are north of $45 5 emails from each account? CTR is WAY higher when email comes from someone you personally know.
- r0h1n 12y agoInterestingly, Hold Security, the firm that apparently discovered this massive trove of stolen records, has promptly offered a $120 service for those who want to see if they're affected: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/08/05/huge-password-breach-shady-antics/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/08/05/huge-pass...
- smt88 12y agoI recommend BillGuard or something similar for anyone who is worried about losing payment information. Also, use/promote http://twofactorauth.org http://twofactorauth.org