Security News > 2005 > March > Southfield teenager accused in computer attacks

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/031905/loc_20050319015.shtml March 19, 2005 A Southfield teen was arrested Friday and accused of orchestrating computer attacks to cripple Web sites operated by competitors to his online sportswear business. Jason Saleh Arabo, 18, of Southfield was arrested by FBI agents in Detroit and charged with conspiring to transmit a program to damage a computer, federal prosecutors said. Also arrested was a New Jersey teen, who federal and state authorities said carried out the attacks. Damage from the attacks reverberated beyond the targets, eventually causing $1.2 million to $2 million in damage to about 100 Web sites, said John Hagerty, a spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice. FBI Special Agent Tim Nestor put the cost even higher, at $2.5 million, calculated on lost business as well as the cost to repair computers. "It was a fairly large attack," said Nestor, supervisor of the FBI cybercrime squad in New Jersey, adding that on one day over the summer it knocked out a "backbone provider" of Internet service in eastern Pennsylvania for 12 hours. "This was a malicious attack that had widespread practical and financial consequences. The damage literally rolled across the country and beyond," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said in a statement. A 17-year-old boy in Edison, N.J., was arrested Friday by New Jersey State Police and charged with one count of computer theft by denial of service, Lt. Kevin Rehmann said. The teen, whose name was not released because of his age, was held at the Middlesex County juvenile detention center. Authorities did not immediately know who Arabo or the 17-year-old had retained as lawyers. Arabo was released on $50,000 bond. A message seeking comment was left at his home Friday afternoon. The pair met online in June in a chat room "where computer-savvy people can communicate with each other," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric H. Jaso said. Arabo operated two companies that sold sports clothing, www.customleader.com and www.jerseydomain.com, from his home. He recruited the teen to conduct the attacks in return for some of the historic uniform reproductions he sold, along with high-end sneakers and a watch, Jaso said. In July, the teen launched "distributed denial of service" attacks aimed at computer servers supporting the Web sites of his competitors, including a New Jersey company, according to a complaint filed by the FBI. This was accomplished by secretly infecting thousands of computers with copies of a program known as a "bot," short for robot. The teen then ordered the bots to access the targeted Web site at the same time, overloading the site's server and causing it to crash, the complaint said. Authorities seized Arabo's home computer in January, Jaso said. The New Jersey company, identified in the FBI complaint only as "JJ," notified the FBI on July 7 that its Web site had been attacked five days earlier, leaving it unable to do business. The attacks continued into December. The charge against Arabo carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to twice the loss to victims. The charge against the teen could carry prison time, depending on how the case is prosecuted. _________________________________________ Bellua Cyber Security Asia 2005 - http://www.bellua.com/bcs2005

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