Cybercrime: Uncovered

The criminal mastermind lives somewhere in Russia. Drawing on his links to the underworld, he uses the internet to pull the strings of a shadowy network of misanthropes allegedly connected to the Kremlin.

Nothing escapes this kingpin's malevolence: online pornography, fraud, corporate blackmail – it all causes his coffers to fill and his ego to grow. And therein lies his problem. He gets cocky. Known only as "Flyman", his notoriety spreads and the attention forces him to go to ground.

It sounds like a piece of Raymond Chandler for the noughties, a hybrid of films like Hackers, The Matrix or any cyberpunk thriller from the past 20 years. But it is, in fact, real. The network is the Russian Business Network (RBN) – thought to be led by the nephew of a well-connected Russian politician – and it has been attracting the attention of security experts worldwide. Now, after briefly disappearing off the radar, it is believed that the group has moved its operations to China.

Cybercrime is in a state of flux

In the recently released internet thriller Untraceable, starring Diane Lane, a criminal uses advanced technology to ensure that his own macabre website remains "untraceable" to FBI agents trying to close him down. Cybercriminals in the real world have their own version, "fast flux", to hide the location of phishing and spamming sites and illegal malware.

The technique was first recognised in March 2007 by security companies monitoring criminal botnets like Storm and Nugache. By January, it had become a standard weapon of choice for phishers and spammers. Robert McCardle, from security firm Trend Micro, says: "Fast flux is one of the biggest tools being used by criminal botnets today. They are definitely on the rise, and make it even more difficult for web users to be protected."

Blocking Access to Social Networking Sites

For several years now, many business and school network administrators block access to Facebook, Myspace and other social networking site on the grounds that they distract employees from more important work. Preventing access to Web sites by name is straightforward, but resourceful employees can find a site's IP addresses and enter those into the browser easily enough. Consequently, administrators often try for more sophisticated IP address blocks. These sometimes also be circumvented via proxies. Have you been on networks that block access to social networking sites and tried to get around it?

A New Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter - Coming Soon

We and Gizmodo are watching for the official release of Microsoft's new Wi-Fi adapter for the Xbox 360. The new adapter should feature 802.11n support and perhaps a slightly lower price tag than the current 802.11g unit that I and many other gamers around the world have enjoyed for the last few years.
Will it be worth replacing an existing Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter with a new 802.11n model? In a word, probably not. To get maximum benefit from the new adapter, you'll need an 802.11n router. Even then, unless your current wireless connection is very weak, expect the stronger signal and higher network bandwidth 802.11n won't translate into any noticeable stability or performance improvement in your online experience.