
Hacker from Russian crime group jailed for global blackmail conspiracy - adzicg
https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/hacker-from-russian-crime-group-jailed-for-multi-million-pound-global-blackmail-conspiracy
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drewg123

      "If the home computer was not protected with up-to-date anti-virus software, the Angler would search for vulnerabilities and, if possible, deliver the "ransomware" that seized control of the machine."
    

It is amusing that they don't mention that ad bocking extensions also protect
against this sort of thing. In fact, defense in depth against malicious ads
are one of the best reasons to run an adblocker.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
You're shocked that an online news agency wouldn't advocate for users to
install an adblocker?

~~~
proaralyst
It's the BBC, they're taxpayer funded and don't advertise (within the UK).

~~~
JulianMorrison
But they're really, really Establishment. They wouldn't advocate adblocking,
because it would challenge the status quo.

~~~
mannykannot
It has quite a few articles on the topic, such as this one, which has a
"What's the benefit to users?" section.

[https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34173732](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34173732)

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derangedHorse
“...the attack kit would have been downloaded on approximately 165,000 PCs.
Some 5% of those - about 8,000 users - were likely to have fallen victim to
the ransom demand”

This is clearly a severe underestimation of how ignorant most people are about
ransomware and how to recognize it when installed on one’s computer.

~~~
fabricexpert
> If the home computer was not protected with up-to-date anti-virus software,
> the Angler would search for vulnerabilities and, if possible, deliver the
> "ransomware" that seized control of the machine.

> It immediately splashed a full screen message to the user,

It's unclear if this exploit / malware was capable of actually encrypting
files or if it did something else which could easily be fixed without data
loss. I think most peoples reaction would be to pull out their phones and
google how to fix it.

~~~
slugiscool99
I think many people who aren’t as tech savvy wouldn’t think about doing this.
Even if they assumed it could be fixed (which many probably didn’t), in a
state of heightened emotions (of embarrassment, fear of possibly breaking the
law), many people would try their best to comply with the instructions.

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mihaifm
Is this something that Pi-hole can protect you from? I intended to set up one
for a while but never found the time. It looks like ads are not only annoying
but increasingly dangerous at this point.

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ryanlol
Increasingly? Are you a time traveller?

Ads (and web browsing in general) certainly have been getting much much safer
in the past years, working exploit kits are vastly more difficult to come by
than they were only a few years ago.

The landscape simply is nothing like it was during blackhole kits heyday.

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ianai
I couldn’t find whether he gets to keep the money. If he does he’ll be a
millionaire when he leaves prison in ~6 years.

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mrleiter
Recovery of criminal proceeds is regulated in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
There are certain instruments to recover illegal proceeds, either by restraint
("freeze") and/or confiscation orders. There is also a civil procedure
possible, e.g. for assets that have been bought with criminal proceeds.

If a legal system were to allow a criminal his proceeds you effectively make
property rights useless. Because why should I pay for a transaction if I could
simply force you to do it and pay nothing in exchange.

~~~
billfruit
I do not know the right term for this, what if they try to cycle it once more
through a legit transaction, like they release an music album on Amazon, and
use the proceeds of the crime to buy 1000s of numbers of it, or some variation
of such a scheme, then is the gains from the albums sales legit earnings or
not?

~~~
blotter_paper
"Money laundering" is the term you're looking for; IANAL, but money laundering
is illegal AF.

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billfruit
Money Laundering, usually refers to activities where the illegal cash is mixed
in with legit cash flow, especially with help from a cash intensive business
like a car wash or a salon, but in the scheme I mentioned about, the second
leg of the scheme, of buying albums, etc, there is nothing illegal about the
transaction itself, only that the proceeds used for it was obtained through
non-legit means.

~~~
blotter_paper
In your example, the illegal cash is mixed in with legit album sales. Whether
you actually buy your own album or simply claim that extra albums were sold is
besides the point. Buying an album isn't illegal, but concealing the origin of
illegally obtained funds by passing them through a legitimate business is.
Driving a car isn't illegal, but running a red light is; the fact that you
were legally driving a car doesn't mean you aren't breaking another law in the
process. The fact that you are legally buying an album doesn't mean you aren't
money laundering in the process.

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dmix
I'm curious if this is connected to the Danish guy who got caught laundering
$450k of Bitcoin. They mentioned they found him depositing laundered money in
another persons account who was arrested for hacking - but didn't mention
which person it was.

[https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/04/08/danish-man-
senten...](https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/04/08/danish-man-sentenced-
bitcoin-laundering/)

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ccnafr
This is clickbait... yes, clickbait on BBC

The guy was a ransomware distributor who used malvertising campaigns to hijack
traffic from all sort of sites, not just porn sites.

NCA press release: [https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/hacker-from-
russian-...](https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/hacker-from-russian-
crime-group-jailed-for-multi-million-pound-global-blackmail-conspiracy)

~~~
hliyan
I went through the article. I'm not seeing exactly how this is clickbait, or
as some other comments that are strangely claiming, buzzfeed-like. Are we
missing something here?

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Illniyar
Emphasizing porn users and blackmail implies that the hacker blackmailed porn
users by threatening to expose their usage (like what kind of porn they watch
or somwthing).

The correct title is guy got jailed for infecting computers with ransomware
through regular ads. This is something that happens weekly I would assume, and
is barely newsworthy.

~~~
adminu
The BBC reported though, that he claimed to have captured video of the victim
which, to me, sounds like exposing their usage of porn in a very personal way.
Comparing this headline to buzzfeed is not justified imho.

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ratling
You know how some people say, "No, no ad whitelisting. #GETOUT?"

This is why.

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ohduran
bbc is now bbzzfeed

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justtopost
Buzzfeed news has easily surpassed them in quality recently. I say that as
someone who still harbors a strong grudge against BF for their part in this
clickbait mess.

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kkarakk
bbc submissions should be mod approved. Their titles are buzzfeed level now

