Interview with a Botmaster 291
An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post is running a fascinating feature profiling a couple of botnet operators who make thousands of dollars each month installing adware on machines they infect. This is by far the most detailed examination of this issue I've seen so far -- and includes an interview with the CEO of 180Solutions, as well as interviews with some of the botmasters' victims. From the story: 'Most days, I just sit at home and chat online while I make money,' 0x80 says. 'I get one check like every 15 days in the mail for a few hundred bucks, and a buncha others I get from banks in Canada every 30 days.' He says his work earns him an average of $6,800 per month, although he's made as much as $10,000. Not bad money for a high school dropout.'"
Torch and Pitchfork (Score:5, Interesting)
Real reporter writing about security (Score:5, Interesting)
There's one way that will get him for sure (Score:4, Interesting)
1. None of these companies are withholding federal and state taxes and social security
2. I'm also pretty sure he's not getting 1099'd either
3. He does not report this money as income
The IRS would love to get their mitts on this guy. Any income (including illegal income) is still taxable income to them.
The "botmaster" kid (Score:5, Interesting)
Which would be the same as with a lot of criminal activities, it seems.
By the end of TFA he's wondering why he hasn't been caught yet, waiting for his little game to blow up in his face. Then talking about joining the Army so he can get into college and make a sustainable future for himself.
Interesting perspective. Not a bad article.
Re:Disgusting (Score:3, Interesting)
If I could I would come up with a nice Team America Dick/Pussy/Asshole imagery. But well.
Re:Anonymity? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The picture has been removed (Score:2, Interesting)
The appeal of it all (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The picture has been removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Disgusting (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The picture has been removed (Score:3, Interesting)
1u3hr:
Not that anyone on slashdot really needs this, but here's the town on Google Maps [google.com].
From the story:
Gee, I wonder if we can find any user-car lots, gas stations or strip clubs in Roland, OK? Hmmm....
Well, here's the strip clubs [google.com] and here's the used-car lots [google.com] and here's the gas stations [google.com].
And ya know what I reckon? I reckon the asshole's house is probably right about here [google.com] . Given the businesses described above, I'm guessing somewhere very close to the intersection of Broadway and South Main St.
He's described in the article as 21, which might be a decent starting point. Anyone in the vicinity feel like going through the local highschool's yearbook for the guy? Note that, as the story helpfully mentioned, he's a highschool dropout, so that might even make it even easier.
Re:Actually quite bad for a criminal (Score:1, Interesting)
I mean think about how much cash you would get knocking over a covenience store, a couple hundred bucks at best. You can't reasonably do it often, otherwise you will get caught. You can get "spikes" of cash easily, but overall anybody with a moderate job and some small skill at balancing their budget will do better.
He just made a big mistake (Score:1, Interesting)
You have half of his face and with a computer you could guesstimate the other half, you know his age, that he is Tall and lanky, that he lives with his parents, they probably go to church, he only went to high school, that he is "good with computers", that he unlike most other residents REGULARLY receives checks/mail from Canada, and he sends and receives a ton of data traffic through some local ISP.
Some of that is simply generic, but add it all up and you have a very good profile to start with for a town of that size.
Give me a week in a town of that size and I'd find him. If I stopped by that strip club and gave out $500 I'd have his name with 5 minutes.
Total Idiot (Score:3, Interesting)
"He claims he doesn't care but then confesses that he dedicates quite a bit of time to covering his tracks. "I do stay up very late each night trying to make sure nobody is going to kick in my front door . . . If I do [get caught], I'm not all that worried. I've got enough money. I can always get a good lawyer."
I've got enough money? Nope as your money is proceeds from a criminal enterprise, it is most certainly going to be frozen as restitution to his victims. Even if he makes $10,000 per month, a defense of these sorts of crimes is going to cost several hundred thousand dollars. I doubt very much this guys is saving much money. He just doesn't know how much these things cost. My prediction for this guy. 5 years in "pound me in the ass" federal prison.
Young and stupid.
Re:The picture has been removed (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not too surprising in some ways - I suspect the journalist behind the story didn't think anything of including a few splashes of what he thought to be completely generic local colour (eg. by mentioning the nearby businesses). But it all starts caving in around that one huge mistake of revealing the town in the image metatags.
If it wasn't such a small town, it might still be too difficult to find the guy. But with the above info, as you say, even a dedicated ordinary person should be able to find him with a bit of detective work. The police of course would find him much faster - if they could be motivated to look :-).
And who knows? The journalist could have dropped in a few bits of irrelevant bullshit just in case, to mislead any pissed-off geek detectives :). I have no idea how to guess if that's likely or not. The only thing I'm pretty damn sure about is that the 0x80 guy would have talked up his age a year or two to make himself 21.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm having trouble imagining a kid spending three (or more, depending on when exactly he dropped out of school) years living with his parents in a tiny little town like that, doing nothing more than IRCing and script kiddie "work". One or two, sure. Three or more... hm. How fucking depressing.
Re:The picture has been removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Okay, after a double-check I think I stuffed it up. Second try - I think Cheyenne Gentlemen's Club [google.com] is the strip club, LP Bottle Express [google.com] is the gas/convenience store (which didn't show up when I searched for "gas station", but did for just "gas" - and the name sounds like a convenience store), and Blue Ribbon Chevrolet [google.com] is the used-car place.
If so, he'd be located about here [google.com] . Just about halfway between the strip club and gas station on one side, and the used-car place on the other.
I think this fits much better than my previous attempt - which was way closer to Muldrow than Roland, and too close to a "Main" street that'd have lots of other businesses.