Fergie's Tech Blog

To Catch a (Cyber) Thief: It's Not Easy

Charles Cooper writes on C|Net News:

The FBI agent whose undercover sting operation led to the dismantling of an international cybercrime ring believes that increasing transnational police cooperation is turning the tide against digital criminals.

J. Keith Mularski, a special agent who works in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cyber Division, says that when it comes to fighting cybercrime, the bad guys may still hold a technological upper hand but that the good guys are getting better.

"We're not far behind," says Mularski, who spent a couple of years infiltrating a crime network that offered a range of stolen data--including credit card numbers, bank numbers and personal log-in information--to buyers online. The Web site, DarkMarket.ws, got shut down last October after a German radio network broke the news about the sting operation.

"I wouldn't say that we're winning the battle," said Mularski. Still, he insisted that law enforcement agencies are catching up. "I expect to see great strides" in the near term, he said.

posted by Fergie @ 4/22/2009 05:54:00 PM