Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks • Hacker News Board

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#21

Post by thewebguyd » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:28 PM UTC

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

It's not easy to go legit, especially in today's job market, depending on where you live in the world also.

The US is unique with its high salaries for tech work (on the lower end of those of high salaries is pure ops work like this though). If you're in a country where the average sysadmin salary is substantially lower (to pick on Eastern Europe for a minute, you're looking at the equivalent of ~$30-35k USD/year), it's not hard to see why its tempting to go the cybercrime route.

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#22

Post by dist-epoch » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

You fail to take into account the ideological angle.

Some people are ready to die for their beliefs. Others just to run businesses supporting their causes.

3 of the 4 persons named have russian links (a large number of Moldovan citizens are ethnic russians).

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#23

Post by dist-epoch » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC

analog8374 wrote: post #8

It would be nice if they named/prosecuted the people who paid them to perform the attacks.

The FSB? What are you going to do about that. Russia shot down an airliner full of Netherlands citizens and there were no repercussions.

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#24

Post by SoftTalker » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

Some people are just born into it. Mafia families, etc. There were some very smart people in the American mob, running scams that were immensely profitable. Eventually they get caught though, and with the ease and pervasivness of electronic surveillance today, it's pretty much impossible to do it anymre at least if you're anywhere where the authorities care about it (edit to add: and aren't in on it).

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#25

Post by parliament32 » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

Imagine working for an organization where 1) cybersecurity is actually the #1 priority, ahead of "shareholder value" and all the other gobblygook, 2) you get to design systems where you actually have to assume that every other entity is malicious (not the usual carve-outs like "oh yeah we do zero trust.. but our entire management plane is Azure-managed it's unavoidable"), 3) your budget is effectively unlimited, and 4) you get paid several factors more than you would in private industry.

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#26

Post by kspacewalk2 » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #14

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

I watched the downfall and eventual jailing of someone who had a great job, career, and family after he started getting involved in cybercrime. As far as I can make sense of it, he enjoyed the thrill of feeling superior to others: Evading the law, exploiting people who viewed as stupid, and enriching himself in the process. He got caught through a mistake that was really dumb in retrospect. I think he believed his in…

>As far as I can make sense of it, he enjoyed the thrill of feeling superior to others: Evading the law, exploiting people who viewed as stupid, and enriching himself in the process.

I sadly see this pattern of thinking far more often than I want to in my fellow eastern Europeans.

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#27

Post by spwa4 » Mon, May 25, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

dist-epoch wrote: post #22

efitz wrote: post #10

I’ve been on the defender side of security my whole career. I know in some markets crime pays more than legitimate work, but it never ceases to amaze me how much thought, effort, planning, and engineering goes into providing infrastructure IT services for cybercriminals. The people involved definitely have the skills to be profitable at legitimate work; it just puzzles me that they choose to support criminals.

You fail to take into account the ideological angle. Some people are ready to die for their beliefs. Others just to run businesses supporting their causes. 3 of the 4 persons named have russian links (a large number of Moldovan citizens are ethnic russians).

> Some people are ready to die for their beliefs.

Really? Because while I've seen this, rarely, in individuals. In many cases once you start tracing money the amounts involved in many "die for their beliefs" situations is absurd. Terrorism, for example.

Re: Netherlands Seizes 800 Servers, Arrests 2 for Aiding Cyberattacks

#28

Post by kirubakaran » Mon, May 25, 2026, 5:01 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #26

Aurornis wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched the downfall and eventual jailing of someone who had a great job, career, and family after he started getting involved in cybercrime. As far as I can make sense of it, he enjoyed the thrill of feeling superior to others: Evading the law, exploiting people who viewed as stupid, and enriching himself in the process. He got caught through a mistake that was really dumb in retrospect. I think he believed his in…

>As far as I can make sense of it, he enjoyed the thrill of feeling superior to others: Evading the law, exploiting people who viewed as stupid, and enriching himself in the process. I sadly see this pattern of thinking far more often than I want to in my fellow eastern Europeans.

Let's not generalize, even if you feel like you can say that because you're a member of a group you're generalizing. It's unfair to most of the people in any group being generalized.