Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly • Hacker News Board

Re: Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly

#31

Post by gwern » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 6:03 PM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #19

> The source said that he had bought a large batch of stolen cards from an underground site and that they all appeared to have been used at Target. Interesting sidenote in the Target hack. First, something that you might not know: not one of these breaches (that is Target, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, etc.) was discovered by the actual affected companies - they were all discovered by bank and security officials in the un…

> Being from a particular source used to be a selling point for the traders, but now they are blurring a lot of that info out and combining different dumps and then slicing them for sale in other ways (usually IBAN, State and Expiry).

I was looking at one of the newer carding shops on Tor and was wondering why they were splitting all their dumps that way. Guess now I know why.

Re: Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly

#32

Post by r0muald » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 6:15 PM UTC

naterator wrote: post #20

nikcub wrote: post #19

> The source said that he had bought a large batch of stolen cards from an underground site and that they all appeared to have been used at Target. Interesting sidenote in the Target hack. First, something that you might not know: not one of these breaches (that is Target, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, etc.) was discovered by the actual affected companies - they were all discovered by bank and security officials in the un…

Is there a bright side to this, though? Doesn't this mean that the barrier to entry will increase for this kind of crime, and thus a smaller group of criminals will be able to perform it? Maybe that's small consolation, considering that only a handful need to do it to cause widespread havoc. Still. I hope this isn't all bad.

A smaller and increasingly skilled group of organized criminals. Not that good IMHO.

Re: Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly

#33

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 9:52 PM UTC

gwern wrote: post #31

nikcub wrote: post #19

> The source said that he had bought a large batch of stolen cards from an underground site and that they all appeared to have been used at Target. Interesting sidenote in the Target hack. First, something that you might not know: not one of these breaches (that is Target, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, etc.) was discovered by the actual affected companies - they were all discovered by bank and security officials in the un…

> Being from a particular source used to be a selling point for the traders, but now they are blurring a lot of that info out and combining different dumps and then slicing them for sale in other ways (usually IBAN, State and Expiry). I was looking at one of the newer carding shops on Tor and was wondering why they were splitting all their dumps that way. Guess now I know why.

Same idea as CDOs, I guess. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateralized_debt_obligation)

Re: Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly

#34

Post by nieve » Tue, Feb 18, 2014, 6:01 AM UTC

sizzle wrote: post #9

nieve wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the current state of policing in the US swatting someone has a non-zero chance of getting someone severally beaten, tazered, tear gassed, or just shot. I don't know of any deaths, but there have been some really close calls reported in the press and and injury plus property damage. I don't think that really qualifies as a good prank, more of a harassment/endangerment tactic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5928424 http://www.cato.org/raidmap Now you know of some deaths

Thanks for the map! I should clarify that I was unaware of deaths specifically attributable to a deliberate swatting incident, the death rate in SWAT raids & no-knock raids is ridiculous. It may be much lower than the death rate from "accidental" shootings of even as specific a group as say young black men who turn out to have no criminal record, are unarmed, and aren't engaged in any criminal activity at the time of the incident, but swatting is more outrageous-seeming to most of the majority who have less worry about being shot by the police. I suspect that the fact that it's a deliberate act of endangerment also increases the perceived significance of the risk - malice is more threatening than incompetence even when it's rare and even if it's less dangerous.

Re: Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly

#35

Post by jnbiche » Tue, Feb 18, 2014, 4:38 PM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #24

jnbiche wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I almost don't want to know the answer here, how are people usually paying for these cards? Is it Bitcoin? I know Liberty Reserve was alleged to be popular among carders before. So has it all shifted to Bitcoin now that Liberty Reserve has been shut down?

It is bitcoin almost everywhere in the underground now. It used to be "accept LR, WM, UK" (meaning liberty reserve, web money, ukash, etc.) on vendor forum posts but now the payment method isn't even mentioned since it is assumed to be bitcoin.

Thank you -- I was afraid of that.