The proof-of-concept even has a name that will bring back memories of a science fiction computer that aims to control the world: SkyNET. For the botmaster, the advantage is obvious: the controlling computer is mobile, and thus much more difficult to track down.
Martin J. Muench -- is the developer of Andover, U.K.-based Gamma Group’s FinFisher intrusion software, which he sells to police and spy agencies around the world for monitoring computers and smartphones to intercept Skype calls, peer through Web cameras and record keystrokes.
We know that the NSA has many domestic-surveillance and data-mining programs with codenames likeTrailblazer, Stellar Wind, andRagtime -- deliberately using different codenames for similar programs to stymie oversight and conceal what's really going on. We know that the NSA is building an enormous computerfacility in Utah to store all this data, as well as faster computer networks to process it all. We know the U.S. Cyber Command employs 4,000 people.
“Today we have demonstrated that, together, we are able to efficiently remove vital criminal infrastructures that are supporting serious organised crime. And we are not 'just' removing these services from the open Internet; this time we have also hit services on the Darknet using Tor where, for a long time, criminals have considered themselves beyond reach. We can now show that they are neither invisible nor untouchable. The criminals can run but they can’t hide. And our work continues....”, says Troels Oerting, Head of EC3.
Global law enforcement conducted a massive raid of the Dark Web this week. It started with the FBI takedown of Silk Road 2.0 and the arrest of its alleged operator Blake Benthall in San Francisco on Wednesday.
It could only happen in the movies. A major Hollywood company produces a film starring well-known comedic actors which involves the tongue-in-cheek assassination of the leader of a remote and rather bizarre dictatorship. The “supreme leader” apparently orders a secret group of cyber warriors calling themselves “The Guardians of Peace” (in actuality, the State-run “Bureau 121”) to retaliate by attacking the company’s IT system.