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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @03:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-long-enough dept.

Two hackers who separately profited from stealing personal and financial data have been sentenced in the US. Sergey Vovnenko was jailed for 41 months for hijacking computers and selling stolen credit card numbers. Eric Taylor, who stole and then published sensitive information about celebrities and public figures, received three years' probation. Both were also involved in attacks on security researcher Brian Krebs, who exposed their online criminal activity.

Mr Krebs said Vovnenko was one of the administrators of a discussion forum that traded in stolen payment cards and personal data, in a blogpost reporting the sentencing. [...]As well as serving a 41-month sentence, Vovnenko will also be supervised for three years following his release and must pay compensation of $83,368 (£67,000).

Taylor was arrested in 2012 as part of a massive series of raids on criminal hacker groups around the world, co-ordinated by the FBI. Taylor was a member of a hacker group that published some of the stolen data exposing sensitive information about celebrities, prominent public figures and ordinary Americans.


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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:24PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:24PM (#469752) Journal

    Do we still use the term "Script kiddy"? Because that term leaps to mind when I think of a 16 year old "hacking" a couple celebrities.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:08PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:08PM (#469823)

      The proper term would have been "showed them the consequences of not using proper safeguards for sensitive information", had he kept publication to a proper minimum.
      Three years of probation is an unusually lenient sentence for such a high-profile case...

      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:33PM

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:33PM (#469835) Journal

        Yes, I agree it's lenient, but, honestly, I think it's appropriate for a dumb kid. He gets a felony on his criminal record, and his probation terms probably prevent him from coming anywhere near the software industry where before being an idiot, he could've found a career.

        I'm generally opposed to the huge penalties that seem normal in the US, and even more so for minors, so you won't see me complaining about how light he got off.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:54PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:54PM (#469851)

          Seconded. Realizing that dumb teens don't need decades in jail doesn't occur often enough to US prosecutors.

          Of course Rachid Al-Islamyah would have gotten 15 years.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:31PM (#469753)

    OR un authorized copying?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:35PM (#469754)

      That's why contracts are so important: They set up the rules of the game.

      In this case, what was stolen is control over the data.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:37PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:37PM (#469839) Journal

      If I download something off bittorrent I have the permission of the person sending me those bits to download them.

      If someone copies my CC# they do not have my permission, and, I can no longer use that CC#.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by requerdanos on Tuesday February 21 2017, @06:48PM

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 21 2017, @06:48PM (#469815) Journal

    Data Theft Hackers Sentenced in US

    Gah.

    1. Hacker != Cracker Actually nevermind

    2. Data is very, very hard to steal, and I have serious doubts as to whether that occurred here.

    For someone to steal data, the following sequence of events must occur:

    1. The data is in the possession of entity "A" and not entity "B"
    2. Entity "B" steals the data
    3. Now the data is in the possession of entity "B" and not entity "A"

    Stealing the physical media on which the only copy of the data resides, for example, also accomplishes stealing the data. It could be argued (but not necessarily convincingly) that so-called "ransomware" can steal data.

    But given that 2 and 3 did not happen here by anyone's account, there was no data theft, regardless of whether there was hacking (disputed). In each case entity "A" still possessed the data, demonstrating that whether or not copies were made, the data was not stolen. Stealing deprives the owner of one or more items. After stealing happens, the owner no longer has the item(s). Even if it was absolutely proven that unauthorized access occurred, that does not mean that anyone stole anything.

    Come on, I get it when the various media and therefore TFA gets it wrong. I can see TFS getting it wrong, as it summarizes TFA.

    But the Soylent headline? In general, I would respectfully request that this community (and its editors) know the difference. If we don't make the world a better place in terms of representing our knowledge, who will?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:03PM (#469858)
    ▓█████▄ ▄▄▄█████▓ ██░ ██
    ▒██▀ ██▌▓  ██▒ ▓▒▓██░ ██▒
    ░██   █▌▒ ▓██░ ▒░▒██▀▀██░
    ░▓█▄   ▌░ ▓██▓ ░ ░▓█ ░██
    ░▒████▓   ▒██▒ ░ ░▓█▒░██▓
    ▒▒▓  ▒   ▒ ░░    ▒ ░░▒░▒
    ░ ▒  ▒     ░     ▒ ░▒░ ░data
    ░ ░  ░   ░       ░  ░░ ░theft
       ░              ░  ░ ░hackers

                           
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 22 2017, @09:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 22 2017, @09:57PM (#470451)

      Oh wow, this gives me nostalgia for dial-up message boards.