NESTA Crime Online - University of Brighton Repository

video games. 83 However, the activities and level of organisation of Chinese hackers
transcends the online game industry. A 2009 report provided compelling evidence and
detail of the efforts of a network of Chinese hackers – which researchers have called
GhostNet – that uses a malicious software programme to steal sensitive documents,
control web cams and completely control infected computers. Investigations have
disclosed 1,295 hacked computers in 103 countries belonging to international
institutions. The report says "GhostNet represents a network of compromised computers
resident in high-value political, economic and media locations spread across numerous
countries worldwide." 84 There are also concerns that Chinese groups are becoming adept
at applying ransomware. 85 Of particular concern is where ‘Denial of Service’ (DoS)
attacks are beginning to target government agencies beyond China and thereby
developing the potential to use these means as a weapon of war. There are very strong
suspicions that these efforts at the very least are sanctioned or involve the state. 86
(C) Russia has traditionally been considered the original home of cybercrime, where
high technical skills combine with a stumbling economy and a long tradition of organised
crime. 87 Russian programmers are believed to be behind the most widely used malware-
making toolkits such as Mpack and WebAttacker. Dubbed ‘the mother of cybercrime’, the
Russian Business Network (RBN) has been linked by security firms to child pornography,
83 Kaspersky, “Security Trends 2008”. This subject has also been reported by vnunet.com, “Identity theft feeds
$1 bn gaming black market”, February 21 2006.
84 Information Warfar Monitor (2009) “Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network”.
85 Malicious software which hijacks a personal computer and locks files until a ransom is paid. The first known
case in the UK was in mid-1996 when a nurse from Rochdale found her computer files locked and was notified
that she would have to pay to access a password to have them unlocked (presumably by credit card).
Chapman, M., (1 st June 2006), Ransomware hijacks nurse’s PC, vnunet.com,
http://msn.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2157359/ransomeware-hijacks-nurse-pc, accessed 3 rd December 2008.
86 Greenemeier, L., (18 th September 2007), China’s Cyber Attacks Signal New Battlefield in Online, Scientific
American, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=chinas-Cyber-attacks-sign, accessed 4 th December 2008.
87 In 1993, after the European Council invited Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to apply for EU accession, the
Baltic States implemented an intensive period of national and cultural reconstruction following years of
encroachment from Russia, especially the penetration of Russian organised crime groups. At the centre of
this purge was an attempt to stem the incursion of non-indigenous criminal influence on public-sector
employers. It would seem that very early on in the evolution of the Internet, Russian organised crime
became aware of its potential. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the nascent Russian Business Network
(RBN) is thought to have taken a keen interest in the IT skills that existed in the Baltic States. It also took a
similar interest in the underemployed IT experts in the former Soviet Union’s military, many of whom
remained unpaid for months on end.
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