Fergie's Tech Blog

Targeting the Net's Online Criminal Underground

Thanks to Roland Dobbins for pointing out this article.

Via Enterprise Security Today.

Larry Johnson, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's criminal investigative division, knows how to catch a thief -- even ones who try to hide behind a computer screen.

Last October, in an operation that he supervised, Secret Service agents netted 28 individuals for credit card fraud, identity theft, computer fraud, and conspiracy. The operation, dubbed Operation Firewall, involved the first ever wiretap on acomputer network Latest News about computer network, which agents used to locate the thieves.

"Not only did we learn lessons, but they learned lessons about what to do and what not to do," Johnson said. "A lot of things have changed, but we have a lot of other operations like Firewall going on that I think will be as successful if not more successful."

At a Senate hearing in March, Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, compared the free-floating nature of personal financial information to the "wild, wild West." In that paradigm, Johnson, and agents like him, would be the cowboys who try to foil modern-day bank robbers.

posted by Fergie @ 9/27/2005 05:02:00 PM