# U.S., India to Crack Down on Cybercrime



## Vikrant (Aug 17, 2015)

There are way too many hackers that need to be locked up.

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The U.S. and India are joining forces to crack down on cybercrime, in a bid to boost cross-border trade amid a rash of high-profile global data breaches.

Over two days of talks last week in Washington, delegates led by Obama Administration cyber-security czar Michael Daniel and Arvind Gupta, India’s Deputy National Security Adviser, identified key areas that would benefit from increased collaboration. These included cybersecurity capacity-building, research and development, international security and Internet governance, among others, according to a joint statement by the White House and Indian officials.

Known as the U.S.-India Cyber Security Dialogue, the talks brought together officials from a range of federal agencies, included the State, Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury and Commerce Departments.

They also included senior executives from Oracle Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Symantec Corp. and other private-sector technology firms.

Delegates discussed a “range of cyber issues including cyber threats, enhanced cybersecurity information sharing, cyber incident management” and an “array of follow-on activities to bolster their cybersecurity partnership and achieve concrete outcomes,” the White House statement said.

At the same time, industry representatives submitted policy recommendations, which included a need to “protect cross border data flow, facilitate remote access, provide for strong encryption standards, and reduce cybersecurity threat through targeted public-private partnerships,” according to the U.S. India Business Council, a beltway advocacy group.

In a statement issued at the close of the talks Thursday, Mr. Daniel described cybersecurity as “fundamentally a team endeavor,” saying it was essential for India and the U.S. to work together, along with the private sector, to “raise our cyber defenses in both the short and long term, to disrupt and interrupt malicious actors in cyberspace, and to improve our ability to respond to and recover from cyber threats.”

President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet in New York next month, and the issue of cyber security is likely to be high on the agenda, officials said.

A draft Commerce Department report on the need to develop international standards for cybersecurity, released on Aug. 10, says working with global partners to improve online security “promotes U.S. interests by facilitating interoperability, security, usability and resiliency” while “helping U.S. products and services compete in global markets.”

Cheri McGuire, Symantec’s vice president of global government affairs and cybersecurity policy, told CIO Journal on Monday that such talks were “important given that cyber security is borderless by nature.”

While digitization is opening up opportunities for companies around the world to boost productivity, it’s also raising the risk of data breaches, she said.

“What we’re seeing in regard to India is a dynamic where rapid digitization is introducing new threats,” Ms. McGuire said, adding that more than 60% of cyber attacks in India target big companies.

Last year, businesses in India in the transportation, communications, electricity and gas industries faced a five-fold increase in targeted cyber attacks, according to Symantec’s 2015 Internet Security Threat Report, issued in April.

India ranked third highest in Asia for ransomware attacks, for instance, with over 60,0000 attacks per year, the report said.

“India is seen as an IT powerhouse, but it’s behind in cyber security,” said Vivek Wadhwa, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford University fellow whose research includes business and technology: “It’s like the cobbler’s children have no shoes,” he told CIO Journal.

U.S. India to Crack Down on Cybercrime - The CIO Report - WSJ


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## Vikrant (Aug 18, 2015)

India - US cyber dialog   that sounds naughty. 

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To increase global cybersecurity and promote the digital economy, the United States and India have committed to robust cooperation on cyber issues. To that end, the United States and India met at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on August 11 and 12 for the 2015 U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue.

The whole-of-government Cyber Dialogue, fourth in the series, was led by the U.S. Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President Michael Daniel and by India’s Deputy National Security Advisor Arvind Gupta. The Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter and the Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary for Policy Planning, Counterterrorism, and Global Cyber Issues Santosh Jha co-hosted the Dialogue. U.S. whole-of-government participation included the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, and Commerce. The Indian government was represented by the National Cyber Security Coordinator at the National Security Council Secretariat, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

The delegations discussed a range of cyber issues including cyber threats, enhanced cybersecurity information sharing, cyber incident management, cybersecurity cooperation in the context of “Make in India,” efforts to combat cybercrime, Internet governance issues, and norms of state behavior in cyberspace.

The two delegations identified a variety of opportunities for increased collaboration on cybersecurity capacity-building, cybersecurity research and development, combatting cybercrime, international security, and Internet governance, and intend to pursue an array of follow-on activities to bolster their cybersecurity partnership and achieve concrete outcomes.

In addition to the formal Dialogue, the delegations met with representatives from the private sector to discuss issues related to cybersecurity and the digital economy. The Indian delegation also met with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco.

The two countries decided to hold the next round of the Cyber Dialogue in Delhi in 2016.

Joint Statement 2015 United States--India Cyber Dialogue whitehouse.gov


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## waltky (Aug 30, 2015)

Granny onna phone to China, threatenin' to sell her rickshaw stocks...

*U.S. considering sanctions over Chinese cyber theft: Washington Post*
_30 Aug.`15  - The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes have benefited from Chinese hacking of U.S. trade secrets, the Washington Post reported on Sunday._


> The newspaper, citing several unidentified Obama administration officials, said a final determination on whether to issue the sanctions was expected soon, possibly as early as the next two weeks.  Suspicions that Chinese hackers were behind a series of data breaches in the United States have been an irritant in relations between the world's two largest economies as President Xi Jinping prepares to make his first visit to the United States next month.
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> Obama administration officials have said China is the top suspect in the massive hacking of a U.S. government agency that compromised the personnel records of at least 4.2 million current and former government workers. China has denied involvement.  U.S. government officials and cyber analysts say Chinese hackers are using high-tech tactics to build massive databases that could be used for traditional espionage, such as recruiting spies or gaining access to secure data on other networks.  A White House official had no immediate comment on the report. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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## waltky (Sep 2, 2015)

More than the whole population of the U.S.

*India's internet user base crosses 350 million: IAMAIPTI*
_Sep 2, 2015: India has added 52 million internet users in first six months of the year, taking the total user base to 352 million as on June 30, 2015, industry body IAMAI said._


> Interestingly, 213 million (over 60%) users accessed the worldwide web through mobile devices.  "Internet (in India) has reached an inflection point. The consolidated numbers affirm the fact that internet in India has now become inclusive, which augurs well for the industry and society at large," the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement.
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> The number of internet users has grown over 26% from 278 million in October 2014. The number of mobile internet users has also grown about 40% from 159 million users in October last year.
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## waltky (Sep 16, 2015)

Mebbe Obama `fraid Xi'd whup some o' dat kung fu on him...

*U.S. does not plan cyber sanctions before Xi visit*
_15 Sept.`15 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States does not plan to impose sanctions on Chinese entities for economic cyber attacks ahead of next week's U.S. visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, a U.S. official and a person briefed on the White House's thinking said on Tuesday._


> The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested the reason was to avoid casting a shadow over Xi's visit rather than the emergence of any major agreement between the two sides over how to handle the issue.  Imposing sanctions before Xi's high-profile visit, which will include a black tie state dinner at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama, would be a diplomatic disaster, said the person briefed on the White House's thinking.
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> The Washington Post first reported the decision, citing a senior Obama administration official as saying it came after an all-night meeting on Friday during which the two sides reached "substantial agreement" on several cybersecurity issues.  The newspaper quoted the official as saying sanctions were not off the table and China's behavior in cyberspace is still an issue. "But there is an agreement, and there are not going to be any sanctions" before Xi arrives on Sept. 24, the official said.
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## waltky (May 4, 2016)

'Hacker-for-Hire' sentenced to prison...

*US Sentences Proponent of 'Hacker-for-Hire' Cybercrime*
_ May 03, 2016 - Nearly a decade ago, computer security experts found a new kind of malicious software that would eventually infect more than 1 million computers in the United States and Europe and cause tens of millions of dollars in damages._


> On Monday, a U.S. federal court sentenced Russian national Nikita Kuzmin on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud and computer intrusion for creating the software, named Gozi, and selling it to hackers who used it to steal money from bank accounts.  Prosecutors said Kuzmin "committed this crime purely out of greed" and helped pioneer a new kind of cybercrime that has become more prevalent in recent years.  "In renting the malware to others, Kuzmin made it widely accessible to criminals, in other words, to criminals who do not or need not have sophisticated computer science skills like Kuzmin and his Gozi co-creators," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to the court.  "From this perspective, Kuzmin's crime is particularly significant."  Under that model, malicious coders have expanded their reach from their own schemes to those imagined by anyone who wants to commit a cybercrime, even if they do not know how.
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> Gozi came to a user's computer through a file, such as a PDF, that looked normal to them, but once opened set the malware loose on the system.  Because it was difficult for anti-virus software to detect, people had no idea the software was running, leaving their activities, such as logging into their account at a bank's website, free for Gozi to collect and send back to the hackers.  Prosecutors said security experts identified 10,000 account records from more than 5,200 people, which included login information for accounts with hundreds of companies.  The infected computers included hundreds at the U.S. space agency NASA.  Kuzmin said he did not partake in stealing bank account information himself.  He made money by renting use of Gozi to others and by collecting a portion of whatever they later stole with it.  According to court documents, Kuzmin estimated he made at least $250,000.
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## waltky (Jun 29, 2016)

Combating cybercrime in Cambodia...




*US to Train Cambodian Government on Combating Cybercrime*
_ June 28, 2016 — The United States has invited senior Cambodian officials to learn about cybercrime from U.S. experts._


> Numerous countries and nongovernmental organizations have expressed concern in recent years over the drafting of a Cambodian cybercrime law, which critics say could be used to restrict freedom of expression and stifle political dissent as Cambodians increasingly turn to social media websites such as Facebook to share their political opinions.  Kan Channmeta, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, said he estimates about 7 million Cambodians — almost half the population — now regularly use the internet.
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See also:

*China Seeks On-Off Switch for Internet*
_ June 29, 2016 — A controversial cyber security law that is under review in China will give authorities the power to shut down the internet and block all communications online when so-called “emerging social security events” occur._


> The new draft law, which is being reviewed by China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, does not clearly state what it means by emerging social security events. The broad phrase could refer to anything from localized protests to widespread riots or violent attacks.  The current version of the draft law states local governments must seek approval of the central government before shutting down the internet. How long authorities would be allowed to keep an internet blackout in place is unclear.
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> China’s new Great Wall
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Related:

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US Increasingly Focused on Social Media to Weigh Terror Threats*
_ June 29, 2016 - The United States government has become increasingly focused on the idea of examining social media posts in order to make determinations about who represents a security threat to the country._


> The latest example is a proposal from the Customs and Border Protection arm of the Department of Homeland Security to ask foreign travelers to disclose information about their accounts on services like Facebook and Twitter.  It would appear as an optional question on the form people fill out either upon arrival or presubmit online with information such as their name, address, phone number and the names of countries they have visited since 2011.  It would also only apply to travelers from the 38 countries allowed visa-free entry into the U.S.  "Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case," the proposal says.
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> Customs and Border Protection is asking the Office of Management and Budget for permission to add the question and says it would affect an estimated 24 million people.  There is a 60-day comment period for the public to weigh in.  Meanwhile, members of Congress have been busy during their current session drafting bills involving examining social media posts for terror links.  Senator John McCain sponsored one of several bills that would require the Department of Homeland Security to look at internet activity and social media profiles of anyone applying for admission to the U.S.  "It is unacceptable that Congress has to legislate on this, and that it wasn't already the Department of Homeland Security's practice to take such commonsense steps when screening individuals entering this country," McCain said.
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## waltky (Dec 1, 2016)

Europol too...

*Europol Brings Down Global Cybercrime Syndicate*
_December 01, 2016 - Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, said Thursday it has arrested five people in an online criminal enterprise and seized 39 computer servers following a four-year-long international investigation._


> Police agencies spanning the globe and representing 30 countries participated in the effort, which closed down a criminal group that has caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage through online cyberattacks, according to a written statement released by Europol.  "The operation marks the largest-ever use of sinkholing to combat botnet infrastructures and is unprecedented in its scale, with over 800,000 domains seized, sinkholed or blocked," the statement read.  Sinkholing refers to a technique used by police that redirects internet traffic coming from criminals to servers controlled by law enforcement. When fully implemented, the tactic stops criminals from gaining access to infected computers of their victims.
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> Eurojust President Michele Coninsx called the cybercrime group, known as Avalanche, "one of the world's largest and most malicious botnet infrastructures" and said its take-down by authorities was one of the biggest to date.  "Today marks a significant moment in the fight against serious organized cybercrime, and exemplifies the practical and strategic importance of Eurojust in fostering international cooperation," Coninsx said in a statement issued by the European judicial cooperation agency.
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## waltky (Dec 15, 2016)

Cyber-thief arrested...




*Man held at JFK airport over largest US financial cyber-hacking*
_Wed, 14 Dec 2016 - The FBI arrests a man charged with the largest cyber-attack of financial firms in US history._


> US national Joshua Samuel Aaron, 32, was held at New York's JFK airport and will appear in court on Thursday.  He is one of three men accused of illegally accessing the personal information of 100 million people in 2012-15.  Twelve major institutions were victims of the hacking, including JPMorgan.  Mr Aaron had been a fugitive living in Moscow, but flew to the US voluntarily to face the charges, his lawyer said.
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See also:

*Spanish police arrest 200 Chinese nationals in €16m fraud*
_Wed, 14 Dec 2016 - Police in Spain arrest more than 200 Chinese nationals in a fraud investigation, officials say._


> The group is alleged to have convinced Chinese families to deposit money in bank accounts by pretending to be police officers.  Authorities said 13 call centres were discovered and dismantled in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.  More than 600 officers took part.  "We are talking about thousands of Chinese citizens, mainly poor families who were robbed of their modest savings," Spanish police crime commissioner Eloy Quiros told a news conference.
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> The gang is alleged to have used bases in Spain to contact people in China by telephone. Pretending to be friends or family, they would warn their victims of various scams.  The calls would later be followed up by members of the same gang impersonating police officers and claiming to be investigating the scams.  Victims would then be encouraged to help the authorities with their inquiries by depositing money in a number of bank accounts.
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## waltky (Jun 22, 2017)

Girl Scouts to take on cybercrime...




*New Girl Scout Badges Focus on Cybercrime, Not Cookie Sales*
_June 21, 2017 - Cookie sales may take a back seat to fighting identity theft and other computer crime now that Girl Scouts as young as 5 are to be offered the chance to earn their first-ever cyber security badges._


> Armed with a needle and thread, U.S. Girl Scouts who master the required skills can attach to their uniform's sash the first of 18 cyber security badges that will be rolled out in September 2018, Girl Scouts of the USA said in a press release.  The education program, which aims to reach as many as 1.8 million Girl Scouts in kindergarten through sixth grade, is being developed in a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Palo Alto Networks (PANW.N), a security company.
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> The goal is to prevent cyberattacks and restore trust in digital operations by training "tomorrow's diverse and innovative team of problem solvers equipped to counter emerging cyber threats," Mark McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks, said in the release.  The move to instill "a valuable 21st century skill set" in girls best known for cookie sales is also aimed at eliminating barriers to cyber security employment, such as gender and geography, said Sylvia Acevedo, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
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## waltky (Aug 26, 2018)

*Unpicking the cyber-crime economy...*
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*Unpicking the cyber-crime economy*
*26 August 2018 - Turning virtual cash into real money without being caught is a big problem for successful cyber-criminals.*



> *They often have to get creative when "cashing out" or laundering the money they have stolen, according to a security expert.  Ziv Mador, head of security research at Trustwave SpiderLabs. told the BBC that credit card thieves, for example, have limited time to profit, because at some point the victim will put a stop on their card.  Tens of thousands of stolen card numbers are traded daily on the underground markets that Mr Zador and his colleagues monitor, with details taken from compromised websites or databases.  "They can try to sell the card, which is not big money because they only get a few dollars for each one," he said.*
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## Natural Citizen (Aug 26, 2018)

Problem. Reaction. Solution.


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