Five Charged In Largest Hacking Scheme Ever Prosecuted In US

wiredmikey writes "US authorities have charged four Russians and a Ukrainian five on charges of running a global hacking operation that targeted major payment processors, retailers and financial institutions. The charges stem from hacking attacks dating back to 2005 against several global brands, including the NASDAQ exchange, 7-Eleven, JC Penney, Hannaford, Heartland, JetBlue, Dow Jones, Euronet, Visa Jordan, Global Payment, Diners Singapore and Ingenicard. The men allegedly used SQL injection attacks as the initial entry point into the computer systems of global corporations. Once networks were breached, the defendants allegedly placed malware on the systems. According to the indictment (PDF), the malware used created a "back door," leaving the system vulnerable and helping the defendants maintain access to the network. The men face five years in prison for conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers; 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud; five years in prison for unauthorized access to computers; and 30 years in prison for wire fraud."

Punishment out of proportions?

[PerformanceDude]

Even though the actions of these low-life, sewer-dwelling misfits angers me, I can't help but wonder why the punishment in the US is on a scale that you wouldn't even get for premeditated murder in most other countries. Aaron Swartz payed the ultimate price for such over the top threats of deprivation of liberty.

At what point does the punishment no longer fit the crime? Sure, confiscate all the profits, bankrupt them, take all their assets and lock them up for a couple of years. But 30-40 years? For real? Why not just send them to Mars or something? Locking them up for 5 years without access to computers would ensure that when they get out their hacking skills would be so redundant they could never do it again.

Isn't the justice system supposed to be about a balance between punishment and reformation - not about revenge?

Re:Punishment out of proportions?

[OhANameWhatName]

At what point does the punishment no longer fit the crime?

When the people controlling money are making the laws.

What about the bank leaks?

[Anonymous Coward]

'Someone' broke into the banking system and leaked a selection of bank transactions for places like the British Virgin Islands with a story that these are tax-haven stuff, and then leaked a much larger file, many thousand times bigger direct to UK/Aus/NZ/Can full of *everyone's* bank transactions. Why aren't we hunting for these 'crooks' who broke in and stole all this financial info?

(April 2013 Leak of bank transaction data):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/offshore-secrets-offshore-tax-haven
IMHO this was NSA or GCHQ leaking emails and SWIFT data it intercepted, I worked on a system known as SEPA which is due to take over from SWIFT by next year and will secure Euro transactions from US surveillance. As soon as this leak happened it was just before a G7 meeting with the agenda of clamping down on tax havens. So it looked like lobbying fodder to force the outcome of that meeting and try to get access to SEPA.

(May 2013, G7 Nations agree to fight tax havens):
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-05-11/news/39186824_1_tax-havens-transfer-pricing-rules-tax-authorities

And the Canadian Feds (and presumably the spooks too), as a result got access to the bank data:
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/05/10/tax-havens-probe-canada/

I'm guessing the NSA got a feed as part of 5 eyes:

"OTTAWA — The federal government says it will get access to relevant Canadian information stemming from a sweeping offshore tax-evasion investigation being conducted by the United Kingdom, United States and Australia."

See how it works? Collect all the info, use it as leverage to get more, leak against opponents, put friendlies in power.

Snowden Kickback?

[FriendlyLurker]

The indictment is from 2009. Two of the 5 men were arrested last year. The other three men are on the run most likely hiding out somewhere in Russia, and suddenly this is offered up as new "news" for the masses to contemplate. Could we be seeing some Snowden kickback - time to drag the words "Russia"/"Russian" through the dirt as much as possible for not handing over the US whisteblower Edward Snowden. The battle here is all about public opinion, after all - because they sure cant win against him based on morality, or even the law [guardian.co.uk].

Re:Charges Only if You're A Citizen

[Lumpy]

Your fault for Voting Republican/Democrat.

Honestly, Being in Congress should be by lottery and forced servitude. You cant get elected, it's a lottery and compulsory.. Dave Fox of 3124 Main Street, Chester,OH... YOU are the new congressional representative of your district for the next 2 years. An armed caravan will be there momentarily to pick you up.

It is the only way to keep it honest. Because voting for rich assholes is turning out to be a complete failure.

interesting

[slashmydots]

A monkey could write code that's not vulnerable to SQL injections. You'd almost have to try to add that vulnerability to your software these days because even my intern knows how they work and how to use stored procedures or even regex filters. So all they really did was point out companies that are completely inept when it comes to security.