Overview

Beginning in the fall of 1999, a number of Internet-related businesses and financial institutions in the United States suffered computer intrusions or 'hacks' that originated from Russia. The hackers gained control of the victims' computers, copied and stole private data that included credit card information, and threatened to publish or use the stolen credit cards or inflict damage on the compromised computers unless the victims paid money or gave the hackers a job. Some of the companies gave in and paid off the hackers. Some decided not to. The hackers responded by shutting down parts of their networks and using stolen credit card numbers to order thousands of dollars' worth of computer equipment. THE LURE is the true, riveting story of how these Russian hackers, who bragged that the laws in their country offered them no threat, and who mocked the inability of the FBI to catch them, were caught by an FBI lure designed to appeal to their egos and their greed. The story of the sting operation and subsequent trial is told for the first time here by the Department of Justice's attorney for the prosecution. This fascinating story reads like a crime thriller, but also offers a wealth of information that can be used by IT professionals, business managers, lawyers and academics who wish to learn how to protect systems from abuse, and who want to respond appropriately to network incidents. They also provide insight into the hacker's world and explain how their own words and actions were used against them in a court of law ' the evidence provided is in the raw, uncensored words of the hackers themselves. This is a multi-layered true crime story, a real-life law and order story that explains how hackers and computer thieves operate, how the FBI takes them down, and how the Department of Justice prosecutes them in the courtroom.

Full Product Details

9781435457126

Table of Contents

Reviews

Introduction. 1. Speakeasy. 2. The Investigation Begins. 3. The Lure. 4. The Sting. 5. In Custody. 6. PayPal and eBay. 7. A (not so) Brief Primer on National Security Investigations. 8. eBay. 9. Victim Banks. 10. CTS (San Diego). 11. Verio and webcom.com. 13. The Motion to Suppress and Preliminary Skirmishing. 14. Preparing for Trial. 15. The Trial. 16. Aftermath.

Author Information

Steve Schroeder was a trial attorney and an Assistant States Attorney for the Department of Justice from 1974 until his retirement in July 2002. He specialized in white-collar crime and corruption prosecutions until 1992, when he prosecuted his first computer crime case, an intrusion into the Federal Court House network. From that point on, he became immersed in the growing field of computer crime cases. He became a charter member of the Department of Justice Computer and Telecommunications Coordinator program at its inception in 1995. He was a member of the national working group that advises the Attorney General on computer crime issues, and is a frequent lecturer on computer crime and electronic evidence. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law, where he teaches Computer Crime.

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