Cybercriminal and the army of zombies

Date: August 30, 2005
Source: PC WORLD
By: Tom Spring

... chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity, says that U.S. business interests aren't the only thing at stake. Lungren worries that hackers who control botnets might attempt to carry out terrorist acts online to take down the nation's electric utilities or tamper with air traffic control systems.

"We have seen a progression from hackers to hackers with criminal intent," Lungren says. "We are naturally concerned with any hacker with terrorist intent."

Cyber criminals have been technologically two steps ahead of law enforcement for a long time. But that may be changing, according to Robert Villanueva, criminal investigator within the U.S. Secret Service. "Hackers used to think they couldn't be touched on IRC channels and using VPN networks," Villanueva says. "We know they are out there, and we are infiltrating their groups and taking notes," he says.

In the future, FBI special agent Nestor says, attacks will get more sophisticated. "It's a cat-and-mouse game. It always has been. As soon as we figure out who the bad guy is and how he operates, the cybercrooks come up with something new."
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