Russian police: 'Our hackers are the best'

The Russian police's cybercrime division has warned that Russian hackers are the best in the world.

"Everyone knows that Russians are good at maths," said Lieutenant General Boris Miroshnikov of the division known as Department K. "Our software writers are the best in the world, that's why our hackers are the best in the world."

Speaking at the e-Crime Congress in London on Tuesday, Miroshnikov said that the casual teenage hackers of the past developed their techniques as they grew older.

"It used to be naughty boys (doing this)," he said. "But now they've grown up. They realize if you are clever at something then you should use it to earn a living. They are hacking to get rich and uniting over networks."

Miroshnikov called for unified international laws for Internet crime that would make it easier for the police to carry out arrests and charges around the world.

Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit said Tuesday that cybercrime costs British firms 2.4 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) last year as consequence of online crime last year. Miroshnikov said this was alarming, but that the international police effort was starting to take effect.

"The statistics are really very worrying," he said. "If you look at 2001, 2002 and 2003, computer crime was doubling. It's only this year that we've started to hold back the growth. That's because we've worked so hard.

"When governments get (ISPs), law enforcement, public and private sector cooperating, then and only then will we be able to succeed in holding back this type of crime."

Dan Ilett of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[Prndll]

lol.....

If russian hackers are all that good, what does this mean for Microsoft? Maybe Microsoft should look into hiring some of them.

Of course cybercrime has been doubling, with things like Windows XP and idiotic decision making that produces .jobs and .travel domains....it's no wonder. There seems to be NO desire from anyone to use their brains in the arena of actually making sure that the masses know something about the new pc they just bought or about the internet. So many individuals that just don't care and so many companies that just want to make money and get bigger from the ignorance of most individuals. Of course cybercrime is getting so much worse. With the advertising industry and companies like Tivo and google creating massive databases containing near limitless varities of data on everyone....this does not suprise me at all. With overly high powered computers being sold to people that know nothing about computers or computer security, I'm not very suprised.

With the spector of net control being placed in the hands of the UN and Microsoft doing what they are doing, I'm quite sure that this is only going to get worse. Googles increase to 2gigs for it's email isn't exactly helping things much.

Personally, I'm still more concerned by the hackers at Microsoft than any russian.

[TheMidnightCoder]

So you like to rant on Microsoft

They were not even mentioned in the article. Try to stay on target. Cyber crime IS rising. If your a tech geek, then DO something about it. Don't just blame microsoft. They are not phishing, the russians are.

[TheMidnightCoder]

Why not rant on Oracle?

The article "Brother, can you spare $25 million?" I don't recall hering anything about Lary donating $150 million to the poor.

[katamari]

They should hire YOU!

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stating]

Typical Russian Grandiosity

The Russians have a history of making grandious claims about their lead in science, technology, and the military. They frequently have a hard time separating fact from fiction, reality from wishful thinking. They desperately want to be "first" in something.

There's no evidence that Russian hackers are any better than any other country's. I would concede though, that their ex-Communist party officials (Oligarchs) win hands down in ripping off the populace by buying up formerly state owned oil, mineral, energy, and financial services companies for pennies on the dollar, and then selling them off to shady 3rd parties for billions.

For more Russian grandiose claims, check out Pravda Online.
http://english.pravda.ru/

[sanenazok]

I know what the police ought to do

Russian police should declare a three year "Great Leap Forward" in fighting Russian hackers. They can start by having the proletariat singing about their achievements.

[Rusdude]

Citibank case anyone?

Do I really have to dig up the story about a Russian hacker who was inside Citibank's computers for a few years (three if I recall correctly)?

[Prndll]

hhhhmmmm.....

It was a russian hacker that created kazaa light. Kazaa light seems to have caught the attention of the entire world. It was so big that it even caught the attention of the makers of the original kazaa program.

Putting "Safety" First... What ever happened at Chernobyl?

Hacking is akin to "finding things for idle hands to do". Also, do the Russians want to boast about the happenings at Chernobyl... Please see link: http://www.chernobyl.co.uk/

If these guys are really so good at programming ( in REXX for the IBM "OS/2" Operating System... which it is understood is popular in Russia) and wish to make some "cash" legally; perhaps, they can do so by developing some API's for the conversion of IRR values (Internal Rate of Return) to ERR (Economic Rate of Return) values. Lets see them beating the programmers at IBM or Microsoft at this. Need a Warp 5. "kernel" and the above mentioned APIs for "international project analyses" anyone! I think our company does. Maybe the "smart" programmers in Russia can help us out here.

[Rusdude]

Chernobyl is in Ukraine not Russia!

First of all, Chernobyl is in Ukraine, not Russia. I'm not going to get into discussing the current state of affairs between those two countries, but just remember that whatever is going on in Chernobyl is Ukraine's doing.

Anyway, why even bring the great tragedy of Chernobyl up in this situation? It's bad taste and akin to bringing up 9/11 or Pearl Harbor...

To address your other comments, Russian programmers HAVE created useful programs outside the hacking realm. Overall, the level of programming in Russia is very high as evidenced by the results of the recent programming competition (China #1, two Russian schools at #2 & #3).

[Prndll]

hhhhmmmmm.....

You have an interestingly slanted view of hacking.

Hacking is about a way of thinking. It is about getting involved in the "why's" and "how's" of things. Without hacking, NONE of this technology would have ever existed. For anyone.

[Tex Murphy PI]

Well...

Duh! As if that was a surprise!

If the US government can't even secure their systems from an under-achieving grade school hacker, how can they even hope to keep the Russian Mafia at bay?

[warnergt--2008]

Then how come they can't write a virus for Mac?

What do they know? The whole country is using
a single copy of Windows.

They probably haven't had incentive. . .

. . .and now, you just threw down the gauntlet!

It's probably on the way! :)

Well, probably not. Still, Windows is the biggest target, so why would they attack anyone else.

Well, Let's just take a look.

Okay, First, this is not a Microsoft Fault. I hate Microsoft, but non-the-less, there are TONS of Linux servers and XServes out there that have been breached as well, viruses or not.

Not only that, Hackers don't write viruses usually, virus writers do, and therefor virus comments should be left out of the discussion.

And SO. There are hackers all over the world. Russia may have come up with Tetris, that's real nice, but I recall an issue of Wired magazine that showcased the talent of three Israeli brothers, all BLIND hackers, who sindled telecom companies and the police.

Yes, one poster commented on Russia's arrogance. It's not uncommon for Russians to claim their people, and technology, are better than eveyrone else's. Just look at say, the AK-47. Sturdy gun. You could beat a hurd of elephants to death with it, but it's accuracy is atrocious.

At any rate, I'm sure there's only a handful of Insanely great hackers out there...ALL over the world.

[Rodwa]

Internet dating scams

My profile is registered on a few sites as I enjoy chatting to people acros the globe. A young lady from Russia contacted me and proposed that we communicate. After many letters and photo's, she said she was travelling to Moscow in order to receive het passport and visa to travel to my country. All along she said she had saved up enough money to pay her own way. Then she started to request money for certain things. I checked under certain websites and found that she is a known dating scam worker. I am still keeping her waiting by saying that my money is only available in a few days time. I have submitted a complaint to Interpol, the FBI and the South African Embassy in Russia with the hopes that we could plot a set up to catch this person. So far no one has answered. Time is running out. I get the impression that everyone likes to do the 'talk', but not the 'walk'. Small wonder these people are earning a fortune from this type of mal practice. Perhaps someone at your paper has more drive than the rest. What should I do now?

My name is Rudi Britz.
Tel no is : [phone]
Fax no is : [phone]
e-mail is : [e-mail]
cellphone is : [phone]

Regards.