About a quarter of all carders in the United States work for the FBI or Secret Service as informants. The authorities are able to easily recruit employees from within the hacker community, threatening long prison sentences and other penalties.
The FBI and US Secret Service are so active in hacker circles that about a quarter of all hackers in the country have become informants for these agencies in one way or another, and mistrust and paranoia are rampant in the hacker community. This was reported by the Guardian with reference to data from Eric Corley, a famous American hacker and editor-in-chief of the hacker magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
According to him, units involved in the fight against cybercrime are becoming increasingly active and are successfully persuading new hackers to cooperate, threatening them with serious prison sentences if they refuse. Using this approach, American intelligence agencies have formed an entire army of informants among the hacker community.
In some cases, Corley notes, popular underground forums where cybercriminals sell and buy stolen identities , credit card numbers and other information are supported by FBI informants themselves acting as provocateurs. It is also common for FBI agents to act as “ carders ” themselves (hackers who specialize in stealing credit card numbers and personal information) and take over many popular forums, using data obtained from the authorities to put their previous owners behind bars.
"Because of the potentially severe penalties, as well as their relative inexperience with the law, many hackers find themselves quite susceptible to intimidation," Corley said. “This creates very, very tense relations in these circles. Dozens of hackers were turned in by people they trusted completely,” says John Young , owner of Cryptome, a site that publishes classified information online.
One of the most famous examples is convicted hacker Adrian Lamo, who “told” authorities on Bradley Manning, a US intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks . Manning talked with Lamo for a long time and even asked him for advice. Lamo responded by turning his friend over to the authorities, earning himself a reputation as "the world's most hated hacker," although he claims to have done so out of concern for the security of the United States.
Barrett Brown, known as the only public spokesman for one of the largest hacker groups, Anonymous, said the group is aware of the FBI's active interest. “The FBI never leaves us alone. They are always watching, always waiting for us in chats. You don't know who is an informant and who is not, so you become vulnerable,” he said.
(c) https://www.cnews.ru/news/top/amerikanskie_spetssluzhby_aktivno_verbuyut
The FBI and US Secret Service are so active in hacker circles that about a quarter of all hackers in the country have become informants for these agencies in one way or another, and mistrust and paranoia are rampant in the hacker community. This was reported by the Guardian with reference to data from Eric Corley, a famous American hacker and editor-in-chief of the hacker magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
According to him, units involved in the fight against cybercrime are becoming increasingly active and are successfully persuading new hackers to cooperate, threatening them with serious prison sentences if they refuse. Using this approach, American intelligence agencies have formed an entire army of informants among the hacker community.
In some cases, Corley notes, popular underground forums where cybercriminals sell and buy stolen identities , credit card numbers and other information are supported by FBI informants themselves acting as provocateurs. It is also common for FBI agents to act as “ carders ” themselves (hackers who specialize in stealing credit card numbers and personal information) and take over many popular forums, using data obtained from the authorities to put their previous owners behind bars.
"Because of the potentially severe penalties, as well as their relative inexperience with the law, many hackers find themselves quite susceptible to intimidation," Corley said. “This creates very, very tense relations in these circles. Dozens of hackers were turned in by people they trusted completely,” says John Young , owner of Cryptome, a site that publishes classified information online.
One of the most famous examples is convicted hacker Adrian Lamo, who “told” authorities on Bradley Manning, a US intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks . Manning talked with Lamo for a long time and even asked him for advice. Lamo responded by turning his friend over to the authorities, earning himself a reputation as "the world's most hated hacker," although he claims to have done so out of concern for the security of the United States.
Barrett Brown, known as the only public spokesman for one of the largest hacker groups, Anonymous, said the group is aware of the FBI's active interest. “The FBI never leaves us alone. They are always watching, always waiting for us in chats. You don't know who is an informant and who is not, so you become vulnerable,” he said.
(c) https://www.cnews.ru/news/top/amerikanskie_spetssluzhby_aktivno_verbuyut
