FBI nabs $74 million cybercrime rings
June 23rd, 2011 | Justice | Posted by Nicole Johnson
Law enforcement agents across a dozen countries joined forces to bring down two international cyber crime rings suspected of causing $74 million in losses to more than 1 million victims, the FBI announced Wednesday.
Two individuals from the northern European country Lativa were arrested Tuesday and indicted on charges filed in Minnesota, where the two allegedly created a phony advertising agency. Peteris Sahurovs, 22, and Marina Maslobojeva, 23 claimed they represented a hotel chain that wanted to purchase online advertising space on the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s news website, according to details about the indictment in a news release.
Dubbed “Operation Trident Tribunal,” the coordinated effort included officers from the United States, France, Canada, Germany and other countries and zeroed in on the scareware scams, where malicious software is sold as legitimate computer software.
Investigators seized more than 40 computers, servers and bank accounts throughout the United States and several European countries, following scareware scams investigated by FBI offices in Seattle and Minneapolis.
Here are some FBI tips on how to spot scareware:
- Scareware pop-ups may look like actual warnings from your system, but some elements aren’t fully functional. For instance, you may see a list of reputable icons—like software companies or security publications—but you can’t click through to go to those actual sites.
- Scareware pop-ups are hard to close, even after clicking on the “Close” or “X” button.
- Fake antivirus products are designed to appear legitimate, with names such as Virus Shield, Antivirus, or VirusRemover.
Tags: cybercrime, FBI
Some FBI cyber agents lack adequate skills, report finds
April 28th, 2011 | Uncategorized | Posted by Nicole Johnson
A review of the FBI’s efforts to mitigate national security cyber incidents found that some field agents tasked with investigating these cases lack the technical skills and expertise to effectively do their jobs.
The redacted version of the report, released Wednesday by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, examined the ability of the FBI-led National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force to defend against attacks on U.S. computer networks and efforts by the FBI field offices to investigate these attacks.
Of the 36 agents interviewed in 10 of the FBI’s field offices, 13 said they do not have the technical skills required by the agency’s Cyber Division to investigate national security cases. In addition, 5 of the 36 agents said they didn’t think they were “able or qualified to investigate national security intrusions effectively,” the report said.
Only 18 of the 36 agents had prior experience in computer networking, and some had never heard of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, which serves as the headquarters for the FBI’s cyber intrusions operations.
In nearly half of the 10 offices reviewed, agents said they were assigned to cases that “exceeded their technical abilities.”
A policy that requires field agents to rotate every three years to gain experience often puts inexperienced workers on cases left behind by skilled agents.
FBI agreed with the IG recommendations to address these issues. The agency has written draft information sharing protocols and will review the rotation policy, among other things.
Tags: cybersecurity, FBI, inspector general
Collins: Cheating scandal casts shadow on FBI
October 11th, 2010 | Justice | Posted by Stephen Losey
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is keeping pressure on the FBI to reform in the wake of a cheating scandal. Collins sent FBI Director Bob Mueller a letter Oct. 7 that said he should immediately punish those who cheated on an important exam on domestic investigations rules and privacy, and force any cheater who wasn’t fired to retake the exam.
Collins also wants the FBI to conduct a department-wide review to find out if there were any other cheaters that weren’t identified by an inspector general investigation. Mueller last month said disciplinary actions are being taken against cheaters and promised to follow up on any other allegations of misconduct
Justice IG Glenn Fine released a report Sept. 27 that found dozens to hundreds of FBI agents and other employees — including the former assistant director in charge of the Washington field office and two of his special agents in charge — cheated on the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG) exam. Some allegedly improperly collaborated on the test, others allegedly shared answer sheets, and others may have hacked into the FBI’s computers to obtain answers.
Collins said the scandal indicates the FBI doesn’t take the DIOG seriously:
Tags: cheating, FBI, scandal, Sen. Susan Collins
FBI threatens to sue Wikipedia for using seal. Really?
August 3rd, 2010 | Justice | Posted by Stephen Losey
Just try it, FBI. We could use the publicity.
In what would be the stupidest potential lawsuit in almost a month, the FBI is threatening to sue Wikipedia for posting its official seal online.
The FBI appears to be concerned that no-goodniks could pull the seal from Wikipedia to make phony badges and documents. But seriously, FBI, the cat’s already out of the bag on this one. Heck, even the FBI’s own site has decent JPGs of the seal that can be found by anyone with rudimentary Google skills.
Wikipedia’s response letter leans heavily on the snark, and refers to the FBI’s “creative editing” and “strategic redaction of important language” in the law it cites. But Cindy Cohn of the Electronic Frontier Foundation sums the whole episode up perfectly when she spoke to the New York Times: “I have to believe the FBI has better things to do than this.”
FBI to get new Phoenix headquarters
March 5th, 2010 | Facilities General Services Administration Justice | Posted by Tim Kauffman
FBI employees now scattered in four locations in the Phoenix area will move into a new 200,000-square-foot office building about two years from now.
The General Services Administration announced Wednesday it has selected the Phoenix office of construction firm Ryan Companies to build the $62 million facility. The building will be owned by Ryan and leased to GSA for use by the FBI under a 20-year lease.
Many companies apparently competed for the build-to-suit lease project, indicating the high level of interest in government projects in a time of economic uncertainty in the construction industry.
John Strittmatter, president of Ryan’s southwest division, told the Phoenix Business Journal that the effort was well worth it.
It was a national competition that lasted well over a year. It was a long and expensive process, but we’re very excited.
The building currently is being designed; construction will begin this fall and take 18 months to complete.
Tags: FBI
FBI closes file on anthrax mailings; says Ivins acted alone
February 19th, 2010 | Justice | Posted by Stephen Losey
The FBI today said it has formally closed its investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people — including U.S. Postal Service workers Joseph Curseen and Thomas Morris — and sickened 17 others. The 96-page investigative summary posted here concludes that Army anthrax researcher Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, acted alone:
Investigators learned that Dr. Ivins was alone late at night and on the weekend in the lab where RMR-1029 [the batch of anthrax spores used in the attacks] was stored in the days immediately preceding the dates on which the anthrax could have been mailed. Before the anthrax mailings, Dr. Ivins had never exhibited that pattern of working alone in the lab extensively during non-business hours, and he never did so after the anthrax attacks. When confronted, he was unable to give a legitimate explanation for keeping these unusual and, in the context of the investigation, suspicious hours.
[...] Dr. Ivins was among the very few anthrax researchers nationwide with the knowledge and ability to create the highly purified spores used in the mailings. Finally, everyone else who had access to RMR-1029 was ruled out as the mailer because, among other reasons, they lacked the ability and/or opportunity to prepare and store the material.
The report goes into more detail on Ivins’ obsessions and mental health problems and other suspicious activity before and after the anthrax mailings.
More documents detailing the Amerithrax investigation can be found here and here.
Tags: anthrax, bioterrorism, Bruce Ivins, FBI
Student sues government over TSA, FBI actions
February 11th, 2010 | Agencies Justice Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Rebecca Neal
A Pennsylvania college student sued the federal government Wednesday, saying that TSA and FBI officials detained him at an airport because he was carrying a set of English-Arabic flashcards, reports The Washington Post.
Nicholas George, 22, of Montgomery County, Pa., is a senior majoring in physics and Middle Eastern studies at California’s Pomona College. In his lawsuit, he argues that he was detained for five hours in August at the Philadelphia airport because three Transportation Security Administration officers, two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and two Philadelphia police officers were suspicious of his flashcards and semester studying abroad in the Middle East. George’s lawsuit states that the detainment was a violation of his constitutional rights to free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
The Post quotes an anonymous source who said the questioning of George was based on officers’ observations of George’s behavior:
A federal official familiar with the matter, discussing the case on the condition of anonymity, said that TSA officers observed “anomalous” behavior by George before he entered the checkpoint. The official said his “erratic” conduct escalated upon screening and, along with other unspecified factors, that led officers to call police to investigate further.
Under questioning, George said he was not a “terrorist, a communist, a Muslim or a member of any campus ‘pro-Islamic group,’” at which point FBI agents told him he was not a threat and let him go.
Should the FBI building come down?
January 25th, 2010 | Facilities Justice Uncategorized | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Is it time for the FBI headquarters building to go missing?
The folks over at WeLoveDC.com asked readers today to name a building they’d like to see erased from the DC skyline, and the results could spark a federal investigation.
Most readers called for the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building to be torn down. The headquarters building, built between 1967 and 1974, is made of poured concrete in the Brutalist architectural style that was popular at the time but has since gone out of fashion.
Other readers suggested that what the building really needs is an overhaul, not a demolition, pointing out that restoring outdated buildings is not only environmentally preferable but a big source of revenue to the district.
So what do you think? Are there worse offenders out there than the FBI building, and is the best solution to tear down or fix up these outdated structures?
Tags: building, FBI, preservation
Paul Harvey + J. Edgar Hoover = BFF
January 22nd, 2010 | Agencies Justice | Posted by Rebecca Neal
And now, the rest of the story, courtesy of The Washington Post.
The Post has obtained previously confidential FBI files showing a close friendship between the late broadcaster Paul Harvey and the late former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The two exchanged frequent letters throughout the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Post.
The Post says Harvey frequently sent Hoover “advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval. Harvey wrote Hoover and his deputies regularly. Hoover, in turn, helped Harvey with research, suggested changes in scripts and showered the broadcaster with effusive praise.”
The two bondered over a shared hatred of communism, the Post states. Harvey wrote to Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1956, offering tips on “known Reds” at a Texas Air Force base. McCarthy, of course, conducted the famous hearings on supposed Communists in the federal government and entertainment industry, among other fields. The FBI protected Harvey’s identity, the Post reports.
A senior FBI official added a handwritten notation to ensure that Harvey’s letter not be distributed outside the bureau’s top brass: “No dissemination since identity of Harvey cannot be revealed.”
Tags: FBI
FBI Tweets
April 3rd, 2009 | Information Technology Justice | Posted by Steve Watkins
Earlier this week I wrote about how FDA was using Twitter to tweet about product recalls. But that’s not the only agency that uses Twitter to share information in a crisis.
The FBI tweets too. And is tweeting right now to let folks know that agency hostage negotiators are on their way from Albany to Binghamton, N.Y. to respond to the shooting and ongoing hostage situation there.
Tags: FBI, social media, twitter