Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Smackdown on data criminals

The long arm of the law finally flexed in a major indictment of criminals who were charged with hacking and stealing credit cards from major retailers.

Eleven folks were charged with the crimes ranging from conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft.

Interesting nuggets from the report:

  • They hacked nine major U.S. retailers, stole and sold more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers...
  • Apparently this is the single largest and most complex identity theft case ever charged in this country
"While technology has made our lives much easier it has also created new vulnerabilities. This case clearly shows how strokes on a keyboard with a criminal purpose can have costly results. Consumers, companies and governments from around the world must further develop ways to protect our sensitive personal and business information and detect those, whether here or abroad, that conspire to exploit technology for criminal gain," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

I agree with the US Attorney - we need better ways to prevent such hacking. But one point is clear again in this case - those who hack work for increasingly sophisticated criminal enterprises and will deploy significant resources to steal as long as the returns are worth it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manu:

How come you guys dont write anything about companies actually using your product? Either you have very few customers or?

David Williams
Wharton Alum 1986
Security Consultant

Manu Namboodiri said...

Not the focus of the blog - which is to think out loud about our vision and ideas. Not to push our product. Maybe we are different from other company blogs, but we like it this way.

If you want to know how our various customers are using our product give me a call.

Anonymous said...

At some point you need to give the ISV implementation guys like me some assurances that there is a decent roll-out taking place with regards to customer adoption. I would highly like to recommend your product, capiche?

David Williams
Wharton Alum 1986
Security Consultant to the Fortune 500

Manu Namboodiri said...

I hear you. Lets chat and maybe we can make you comfortable enough with our product, adoption and vision..

Anonymous said...

Obviously, I think very very highly of your solution. That being said, any of the dozen or so prospects that are ripe for this will first look for those customers that are willing to endorse Bitarmor on your website. Betas that are not public dont cut-it at enterprise or GSA/DOD level anymore.

Manu, thank you for your time and I will check-in at the next tradeshow.

Dave