Accused hacker Maria Zarubina
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Hackers Almost Break Bookmaker
// Hi-tech
The case is being completed by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Ministry of the Interior against Russian hackers who attacked the British online Canbet Sport Bookmakers and a number of similar companies. (The beginning of the investigation of the case was reported by Kommersant on July 24, 2004.) The total losses suffered by the hackers' victims are estimated at $3 million. Charges are being pressed against four computer whizzes, two of them in absentia.
The investigation began in October 2003, when the Internet company Canbet Sport Bookmakers contacted the British National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU). They said that their site was under massive attack by hackers. The intruders had shut down the company's server by making such a number of queries that it was unable to process them and crashed. The company's customers, not wanting to wait for the server to come back online, were contacting other bookmakers, and Canbets losses were up to $200,000.
After every attack, the hackers told the bookmakers that they would stop if the bookmakers transferred $40,000 to an account in a Latvian bank. The bookmakers agreed and transferred money several times, but the attacks did not stop. That is when they approached the NHTCU.
The NHTCU discovered that the money was transferred several times after entering the Latvian bank and eventually ended up in Russian banks. Since it was hard to trace the money further from Britain, the NHTCU decided to ask for the assistance of the Russian Interior Ministry's Department K and the ministry's Investigative Committee. The Russians made a serious effort to assistant their British colleagues, and soon the IP addresses of the hackers' computers and the providers they used were known. Investigators found out the criminal's names through the providers. However, it was more difficulty to apprehend them.
The hackers lived in different cities. And they were able to erase files that could be used as evidence of their criminal activities. To prevent this from happening, they had to be arrested all at one time. That required some sneakiness.
According to the Investigative Committee, the providers called the hackers at a predetermined time and told them that because of “a problem that has arisen with the telecommunications equipment, it is necessary to check [your] personal computer.” Then two investigators came to the homes of the hackers under the guise of engineers from the provider. They asked the hackers to connect to the Internet, asked them to step away from their computers, and at that point arrested them.
Not all of the suspects have been arrested. Only Denis Stepanov of St. Petersburg and Ivan Maksakov of Saratov were captures. Both of them were students at local technical schools. Two other suspects, Timur Arutchev and Maria Zarubina of Pyatigorsk, both unemployed, were able to flee before investigators reached them. They are now wanted nationwide. Investigators think that they were the ringleaders. In any case, withdrew the money that came into her account from Latvia.
Investigators say that, besides Canbet Sport Bookmakers, a number of similar companies were also victimized by the hackers. All of those companies are now complainants in the case. Their total damage (losses and payments to the hackers) is estimated at $3 million.
The suspects were charged under Article 273, Part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Use of Harmful Programs with Serious Consequence,” three to seven years' imprisonment) and Article 163, Part 3, of the Criminal Code (“Extortion by an Organized Group,” 7 to 15 years' imprisonment). Maksakov has been released on the condition that he not leave Saratov because he has confessed in full and is participating in the investigation. Stepanov has been transferred to a holding facility in Moscow. He has admitted his involvement in the attack on the bookmakers, but denied receiving money for it.
According to the Investigative Committee, results will soon be received from the technical examination of the computers. That should confirm that the attacks were made from the personal computers seized from the hackers and that they used harmful programs. Then the preliminary investigation will be complete and the defendants will be made acquainted with the case.
Alexey Sokovnin
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 04, 2005
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