[conspire] Re: conspire Digest, Vol 24, Issue 6

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bruce Coston (jane_ikari at yahoo.com):

> I can't believe Ivan used chat, he does not strike me
> as a competent criminal, I'd never take that risk and
> don't use chat at all now and I'm not a committing
> international extortion.

Oddly enough, the computer underground and its hangers-on
characteristically love online chat forums, and often get caught because
they simply cannot bring themselves to _shut up_.  For an excellent case
study, read Bruce Sterling's fine book _The Hacker Crackdown_.

Typically, they imagine themselves completely safe because they relay
their presence through multiple compromised third-party boxes, which 
indeed makes it difficult to find them.  (See also Cliff Stoll's _The
Cuckoo's Egg).

> An Australian ISP has sent out nearly the sample
> letter in question about infected windows boxes to its
> customers already. 

And did it actually switch off their ports or dial-up accounts?
That's the part that matters.