Young, smart Russian hackers are posing an increasing threat to global business, police said yesterday following last week`s arrest of an online extortion ring that cost British companies up to $70 million.
Russia, with its highly educated workforce and inefficient police, has become infamous for computer piracy and crime.
"People used to be scared of the Russian mafia, now they are scared of Russian hackers," police lieutenant-general Boris Miroshnikov told President Vladimir Putin yesterday, according to Itar-Tass news agency.
Last week, British police announced a joint operation had smashed a small group of Russian hackers who had extorted money from British banks and betting firms.
But Russian police said this particular racket was just the tip of the iceberg.
"There are no more attacks against these specific companies, but no one is safe from such attacks," said Yevgeny Yakimovich, head of the interior ministry`s section `K`, which battles hi-tech criminals.
"All firms with money are under threat, no one is safe... Any organisation with access to the Internet is open."
He declined to name the British companies affected.
In the scheme, which operated for nearly a year and cost the firms as much as lb40 million in lost business and damages, hackers overloaded targeted computers by swamping them with information.
Rather than lose a day`s business, the firms paid the hackers money to stop them attacking their computers again. The young Russians netted $40 000 before being caught.
The government has frequently ordered police to intensify the fight against computer crime. But one of the problems they face is that hackers can be based far apart.
Those arrested in the joint Russian-British operation were based in Moscow, St Petersburg and near the Volga town of Saratov and may never have physically met.
"Every year the amount of crimes go up. There were 233 last year, and there have been more than 600 already this year," said Yakimovich. "This goes on every day but we don`t always hear about it."
Police said most hackers were young and educated, worked more or less independently and did not fit most police profiles of criminals.
It was not clear exactly how many were detained last week. They have not been charged yet, but could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of extortion.
"This was not a normal organisation, everyone sat at home and everyone had their role," said Valery Syzrantsev, head of the interior minister`s investigations department.
"These are really not the kind of criminals we are used to dealing with."
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