The Cyber-Mod Squad Sets Out After Crackers

2000-06-22 18:10

http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO45927,00.html BY Deborah Radcliff (Jun. 19, 2000) NEW YORK March 19. Internet Trading Technologies Inc. (ITTI) takes the first of a series of crippling denial-of-service shots to its online trading systems. Just as technologists block the offending incoming IP address, the company gets slammed again from another IP address. New York-based ITTI's information security consultant places a call to Bob Weaver, operations manager of the New York-area Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF), a 240-strong cyber-Mod Squad that's trained for operations like these. The next morning, Weaver's team of three sets up a war room at ITTI's data centers. They analyze and trace the offending IP traffic while calling telephone companies for traces on the lines and simultaneously faxing subpoenas. "Have you ever seen a movie with a kidnap scene - agents sitting around monitoring equipment and phones? It's that type of setting you now have in the corporate sector," says Ed Stroz, founding president of New York-based security consulting firm Stroz and Associates. Stroz called the ECTF on behalf of ITTI. Four hours later, they nab their man. Abdelkader Smires, formerly ITTI's chief programmer, is still at the keyboard when they catch him at a New York college where he taught night classes. Now Smires, who pleaded guilty to charges of computer fraud and misuse in the Eastern District Court of New York, awaits sentencing. Just another example of the private/ public partnership for which the ECTF is becoming known. The 5-year-old ECTF focuses primarily on the New York area, but its network is expanding to include the Washington area. The ECTF, a sort of central cybercrime clearinghouse for all arms of local, state and national law enforcement, is headed by the New York office of the U.S. Secret Service and boasts a membership of 180 top federal and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. [...] *-------------------------------------------------* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC --------------------------------------------------- C4I Secure Solutions http://www.c4i.org *-------------------------------------------------* ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".

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http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO45927,00.html