Why don't they get caught?

[erehwon]

The NIPC/DHS says you should be wary of cyber-terrorists...



Omar here is trying to look busy in front of his comrades hacking another bank offline with new eleet scripts downloaded from Packetstorm.

C4I.org's team of intelligence professionals have discovered that he's as chatty as a school girl in AIM, and is really getting up to date Britney Spears gossip @ www.mtv.com.

[FreezerBurn]

Why do some get caught and others don't with all the technology available to the hacker. I can think of three reason why a hacker is caught.

1) They want to be caught (that whole 15 min. of fame thing)
2) They slip up, usually by getting to big of an ego and think they are untouchable.
3) They talk. This one is the most common. Kiddies and even experienced hackers seem to always feel the need to share their exploits with someone.

The best hackers keep to themselves. They observe in the background. They don't write books, go on tv shows or speak at conferences. In fact they don't even consider themselves hackers at all. They are more akin to the label of explorer. And probably the main reason they do not get caught is because they Tread lightly and clean up after themsleves, and never do any harm intentionally.

F.Y.I. I once "hacked" the label off my Serta Mattress using an Anonymous pair of scissors and have been on the run ever since.

Also I am a CEH and think crackers and criminal hackers are FUBAR

[dev_zero]

Damn.. I guess it sucks for everyone I know who is a hacker and works for the government. They must think of themselves as cybercriminals (who knew?!?!?).

hehe.. Ok, not everyone from the government. I'm sorry, it wasn't a good sentence from me.

That depends on who you are asking, if you ask a guy from the government he would use "hacker" as a synonym for cybercriminal.

Damn.. I guess it sucks for everyone I know who is a hacker and works for the government. They must think of themselves as cybercriminals (who knew?!?!?).

[dev_zero]

I agree dev, but its about overcoming social ignorance which we know is impossible. With the media hot on 'hackers' and cyber crime the masses will continue to be misinformed.

Yes that's true and that's too bad, because it place hackers in a bad light.

[ciph3r]

social ignorance

I agree dev, but its about overcoming social ignorance which we know is impossible. With the media hot on 'hackers' and cyber crime the masses will continue to be misinformed.

[dev_zero]

Most people use hackers in that way.

Most people that use hackers in that relation don't know what they are talking about..

[Chris]

Most people use hackers in that way.

Most people use Internet Explorer too. Doesn't mean they are right.

[noid]

I'm inclined to say that most electronic criminals dont get caught because law enforcement is spread too thin to deal with it. Right now if you have a computer crime for the FBI, they basicaly want to know

1. Is it terrorism related?
2. Is it child pornography?

If your crime is neither, it goes into the big queue and they may or may not get to it.
Attackers have a great number of ways to hide, cyber cafes, fradulent ISP accounts, compromised computers, but overall I think its a lack of resources on the governments part that really lets them get away with things.

[ciph3r]

Most people use hackers in that way.

[dev_zero]

a great answer, God bless you Chris.

That depends on who you are asking, if you ask a guy from the government he would use "hacker" as a synonym for cybercriminal. I think you're right!, a "hacker" is not necessarily a guy who does something illegal. e.g Richard Stallman is a hacker and Rik Van Riel is a hacker..

[Cop]

Originally Posted by Chris
Hackers don't get caught, because hackers don't commit crimes; criminals do.

a great answer, God bless you Chris.

[ciph3r]

True

I think the capture rate of law enforcement is high because there are very few true 'Crackers' out there. Most 'Crackers' simply download applications and run them without understanding how network/security/programming -- maybe even their own computers work. There have been cases where true 'Crackers' have gotten away with crimes that are still unsolved today.

[Zelazny's Cat]

Yes, many of us do, but you seem to be advertising Skittles at first glance. ;)

This is more or less an echo at this point, but crackers that pull off a crime big enough to get the Government's attention usually don't get away. In comparison:

Using a high-tech crime lab, the police could discern the identity of a person who stole $50 from a 7-11 cash register and left an arm hair on the scene. However, they're MUCH more likely to use those resources to catch a murderer or someone who pulled off a bank heist. It works about the same way with cybercrime.

[dev_zero]

Oh my poor eyes... dev_zero, your signature blinded me

hehe :) don't you like it..? Don't you use GNU/Linux?