Serial hackers indicted and why I’m impressed
By
Dan Kaplan
Aug 15, 2008
Ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘em.
The Saddam Husseins of the computer hacker world have been caught, US federal authorities have announced.
(Of course, it’s the same day I’m rushing to get on a plane to Black Hat in Vegas, so it only figures a major news story breaks).
The feds nabbed 11 people, three from the United States, who are accused of hacking into the wireless networks of nine retailers - including TJX - and netting more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers.
(This number seems a little out-of-whack to me, considering some estimates have placed the TJX breach at nearly 100 million card numbers).
The defendants are not just responsible for TJX - that, in itself, would have been a heckuva takedown - but also some of the other biggest reported breaches of all time, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, DSW and Dave & Buster’s.
I must say, I’m quite shocked that this gang was involved in all of these digital heists. But it sounds like they got greedy - and everyone is gonna get caught sooner or later.
I am normally a little cynical about cybercriminal arrests - I just figure there’s plenty of other folks waiting in the wings to fill the void - but this sounds like it could have punched quite the hole into the problem. Of course, given the vulnerability of many businesses, I still have to believe another TJX isn’t too far off.