Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Cybercrime in Belarus - Pandora's Box is open

If we talk about the Belarusian segment of the Internet space, the dynamics of the growth of cybercrime today is very disappointing. According to preliminary forecasts, in the future, this trend will not decline due to the fact that all the criminal phenomena that occur on the Internet have long been commercialized. According to independent experts, computer criminals have already stolen from users - both individuals and legal entities - more than $ 570 million. The losses are enormous - as well as the income of computer scammers. Today cybercrime is actively taking the leading positions along with the arms trade, prostitution and drug trafficking. Law enforcement officers from different countries of the world are declaring this more and more loudly. At the moment, we are observing that the world community is trying to establish order in this area and, to one degree or another, take control of the Internet.

In our republic, the situation is not yet as acute as in neighboring countries, primarily in Russia and Ukraine. Of course, this is incommensurable with Russia - there the number of crimes exceeds the same in our republic by orders of magnitude. In addition, the Russians began to actively use the Internet before us. Taking into account the rapid pace of computerization of the population and the technological development of society - this is the introduction of electronic payment systems into all spheres of life, the growth of holders of bank plastic cards - the Belarusians will not avoid a period of rapid surge in computer crime.

As world experience shows, the level of computer crime in any country is directly proportional to the growth of technological progress.

In Russia, they are now trying to take control of this phenomenon, both at the level of law enforcement agencies and at the state level. There is a serious struggle against negative phenomena, which are present in huge numbers in the Russian segment. In Ukraine, the situation is more complicated - given the little experience of law enforcement officers, the pace and forms by which Ukrainian cybercriminals enter the world arena, the latter are increasingly taking leading positions in international reports. Our situation is more stable due to various reasons. Department "K" was created in 2002, clearly defined goals and objectives, in addition, the criminal legislation at that time was significantly improved. Computerization was not as active as that of its neighbors, and, as a result, the domestic segment escaped the avalanche dominance of crime. The third factor is a sufficient number of regulatory authorities. In non-CIS countries, the problem of cybercrime has existed for a very long time. And it is not surprising that a number of active and effective measures for large-scale countermeasures have already been developed there, there is legislation aimed at regulating the processes taking place on the Internet. Nevertheless, the international community perceives Belarusian law enforcement officers as equals - a representative of the British Bureau for Combating Organized Crime SOCA in a personal conversation highly appreciated the skill and level of opposition to the growth of computer crime of our colleagues. that there has already been developed a number of active and effective measures for large-scale countermeasures, there is legislation aimed at regulating the processes taking place on the Internet. Nevertheless, the international community perceives Belarusian law enforcement officers as equals - a representative of the British Bureau for Combating Organized Crime SOCA in a personal conversation highly appreciated the skill and level of opposition to the growth of computer crime of our colleagues. that there has already been developed a number of active and effective measures for large-scale countermeasures, there is legislation aimed at regulating the processes taking place on the Internet. Nevertheless, the international community perceives Belarusian law enforcement officers as equals - a representative of the British Bureau for Combating Organized Crime SOCA in a personal conversation highly appreciated the skill and level of opposition to the growth of computer crime of our colleagues.

Today, more than 90% of crimes in this area are punished under article 212 of the Criminal Code "Theft with the help of computer technology." This is a whole range of crimes, but, first of all, theft of codes and passwords with the aim of further access to payment systems of individuals and legal entities is typical. So, at the beginning of the year, two students installed covers on ATMs in several cities of the republic, including Minsk. Young people came to the attention of law enforcement officers at the end of last year. With the help of this patch, PIN-codes of users of bank plastic cards were stolen. The criminals were convicted and fully confessed to their deeds.

The classic scheme of theft is when, using various manipulations on the Internet, dumps are stolen from users in order to access their payment systems. One of the typical techniques is spam mailing, as a substrate, which includes malicious programs that direct the user to so-called trap sites. The user, getting to such a site, is authorized, and the scammers take over his data. In the future, this allows you to steal traffic or download a virus program to your computer, which zombies the machine, simultaneously stealing personal information from it. Zombification is necessary in order to include this PC in the so-called botnet network, which allows DDoS attacks on more powerful resources: banks, closed institutions, institutions, ministries, etc. In order to hack these systems, a huge amount of RAM is needed to compute the code. And the infected computers, working at the same time, calculate the options necessary for hacking. Stolen data is also a commodity. A striking example is the activities of the sensational Belarusian hacker Sergei Pavlovich, who back in 2004 created a website for the sale of stolen dumps. His business worked according to all the canons of marketing: the criminal and his accomplices had their own clientele, he thoroughly studied the demand in a particular region. The activity of the criminal was deeply conspiratorial - it was impossible for an outside person to obtain the necessary information. Pavlovich put this business on stream. In addition, he had contacts abroad. According to operational data, Sergey Pavlovich's group was part of an extensive network computer questions,

Some facts indicate that both foreign and our home-grown carders, first of all, hope for a quick profit. They believe that the capabilities of the Internet, such as anonymity and cross-border, are completely impersonal. This is not true. And the task of law enforcement officers in relation to such "craftsmen" is to look closely in order to stop their activities in time. And this requires careful monitoring of the Internet. Unfortunately, ensuring the security of most Internet resources in our country is in its infancy, and people who are responsible for security in this or that institution often do not even meet the required qualifications. There were facts when the "art" of hackers could be on the main page of the site of some respected agency for weeks.

The main problem of the effectiveness of the fight against cybercrime is its cross-border nature. However, our foreign colleagues help us here. For the second year in a row, Operation Proxy has been carried out within the CSTO. It is very effective. After all, awareness of the problem is already the way to its solution. Today, all developed countries of the world are concerned about the problem of information security. All of them have already realized that it is impossible to cope with this evil alone.

If we single out this type of crime as "Nigerian letters", then it is very typical abroad. So the point here is not the notorious Slavic mentality - even the mercantile English write out huge amounts of invoices to fraudsters. This is a whole criminal trend, which is so developed in Nigeria that whole families there already earn money in this way and even pass it on as a "family business". One of the detainees admitted that in this way he earned up to $ 70-80 thousand a week. African Ostap Benders are well aware of human psychology, and based on this, new and new schemes of theft are being created.

For example, a Belarusian businessman received an e-mail a letter allegedly from a representative of the South African mining industry with a proposal for business partnership. “Colleagues” phoned, the Belarusian was offered to go to London and conclude an agreement in the office. The businessman was met near the plane in a luxurious limousine, took a tour of the city, and then brought him to a luxurious office with a doorman. Having signed the contract, in several stages the unlucky businessman transferred about $ 700 thousand to the fraudsters. Belarusian operatives went to the crime scene and, together with colleagues from Scotland Yard, tried to find and detain the fraudsters, but this was no longer possible. The owner of the luxurious mansion shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment - the building was regularly rented out as an office and he did not even know what had happened.

The sensational operation "Tornado" became a masterpiece of the operational-search work of the domestic department "K". Law enforcement officers received information that a group of Belarusian programmers is distributing pornography on the Internet. But the scheme turned out to be much more cunning ... This criminal group created an "electronic wallet" through which it was possible to access more than 300 already created resources containing child pornography. Belarusian operatives, together with their colleagues from the UK and US law enforcement agencies, received irrefutable evidence of the criminal activities of Minsk residents. The criminals were soon detained, but their leader managed to escape. In a short period - just under a year - the fraudsters managed to earn about $ 5 million. As it turned out later, over 55 thousand transactions from 100 countries of the world were carried out to prohibited resources. Soon, information about the criminals was transferred to Interpol, under the auspices of which Operation Tornado began. Today it is known that as a result of large-scale actions in various countries of the world, more than a hundred lovers of children's "strawberries" have already been arrested.

Recently, mobile phones have also become the focus of cybercriminals. Since the advent of devices with the Bluetooth function, it has become possible to hack their software. Today, another IT novelty has entered the criminal epicenter - smartphones and telephones with the ability to access the Internet. In this regard, the issue of close cooperation between mobile operators and Internet providers is on the agenda. In turn, the international cooperation of law enforcement agencies is very important, which in the face of the emerging problem need to consolidate and jointly create the necessary conditions for ensuring security.

For example, the recognition of the professionalism of Belarusian specialists was evidenced by the decision to join the Belarusian Interior Ministry to the international network of national contact points, adopted at the summit of the heads of cybercrime units of the G8 countries' law enforcement agencies held in Japan. This makes it possible to quickly exchange data on upcoming, committed or committed crimes in cyberspace, request information necessary for conducting operational-search activities and investigative actions from similar units of law enforcement agencies of the participating states of information exchange. There are no less problems in such a part of the Internet segment as local networks. At one time they were a kind of "state within a state" where legal regulation was completely absent. As a result, all those negative phenomena that are widespread on the Internet, to one degree or another, have become characteristic of local networks as well - from the distribution of destructive content to the introduction of virus programs and obtaining prohibited access to other people's resources. Moreover, until recently, the operators who control this local network did not interfere in these processes. However, in light of the forthcoming adoption of new legislation in the field of legal regulation of the national segment, which is implied by Presidential Decree No. 60, such a situation will become more controllable and manageable. to one degree or another have become typical for local networks - from the distribution of destructive content and ending with the introduction of virus programs and obtaining prohibited access to other people's resources. Moreover, until recently, the operators who control this local network did not interfere in these processes. However, in light of the forthcoming adoption of new legislation in the field of legal regulation of the national segment, which is implied by Presidential Decree No. 60, such a situation will become more controllable and manageable. to one degree or another have become typical for local networks - from the distribution of destructive content and ending with the introduction of virus programs and obtaining prohibited access to other people's resources. Moreover, until recently, the operators who control this local network did not interfere in these processes. However, in light of the forthcoming adoption of new legislation in the field of legal regulation of the national segment, which is implied by Presidential Decree No. 60, such a situation will become more controllable and manageable.

Of course, the regulation of relationships on the Internet is necessary at least in a segment of your country. It is necessary to highlight the legislative issues - today the level of problems has increased to such an extent that it is very important even for developed countries. Given such properties of the Internet as anonymity and cross-border, interaction and cooperation at various levels is necessary: ​​both internationally and domestically. Cybercrime is an attempt to interact and influence the processes of the European Internet space and the world experience is such that the absence of centralized legal regulation can lead to irreversible processes.

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