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A Los Angeles man is going to plead guilty next month for being naughty

John Schiefer, 26, known online as "acid" and "acid storm," admitted to infecting and hijacking more than 250,000 PCs with malware so he could have access to PayPal records.

Schiefer recently agreed to plead guilty to four counts of fraud and wiretap charges that could send him to federal prison for 60 years with fines up to $1.75 million USD according to the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's office.

Schiefer used the zombie machines to steal usernames and passwords to the online PayPal payment service. According to U.S. Attorney Mark Krause, Schiefer is the first person to be accused by the U.S. government under the federal wire tapping law of operating a botnet -- a network of hijacked computers.

Along with the PayPal botnet, Schiefer was hired by multiple clients to service PCs, but ended up installing malicious code designed to steal usernames and passwords for online banking accounts. Prosecutors also accuse him of defrauding a Dutch Internet advertising company, which put him on the payroll to install software with user permission -- however, the software instead allowed him to steal more personal information.

The U.S. Attorney's office is attempting to discover how many people may have had their account information compromised.

Investigators are now turning up the heat trying to stop groups from creating botnets to steal personal information.

"We have seen a dramatic uptick in the last few years in the number of botnets being used to give their masters direct financial gain," said Jose Nazario, Arbor Networks senior researcher.

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Thumbnail
By GhandiInstinct on 11/12/2007 10:14:03 AM , Rating: 4
Should use a pic out of the first matrix which was more about PC hijacking, the next two were more about ruining a potentially great trilogy.




RE: Thumbnail
By MonkeyPaw on 11/12/2007 11:11:13 AM , Rating: 5
I think they should have used a picture of Michael Bolton--the one that always screws up some mundane detail.


RE: Thumbnail
By zombiexl on 11/12/2007 12:31:50 PM , Rating: 2
Office Space strikes again.


RE: Thumbnail
By cunning plan on 11/13/2007 5:01:44 AM , Rating: 2
Brilliant..


RE: Thumbnail
By Moishe on 11/12/2007 11:20:10 AM , Rating: 2
The first was one definitely the best, but the last two were good movies by most standards and they finished up the story very well. The Matrix trilogy is intelligent and entertaining. Most action movies entertain and cater to drooling idiots, it's nice to see ones that apply layers of concepts and ideas on top of the killing.

People who don't like the last two Matrix movies, the last two Godfather movies, Star Wars episodes 1-3 are the reason that Hollywood won't get out of the rut. Not every movie has to have a happy ending and not every movie has to be made so that idiots can understand it.


RE: Thumbnail
By fic2 on 11/12/2007 12:13:30 PM , Rating: 2
Is there anyone that actually liked Star Wars 1-3? Ok, 3 I never even bothered to see since 1 & 2 were such crap. 3 comes on HBO pretty much every Saturday and I just can't see wasting 2+ hours of my life to see it.


RE: Thumbnail
By ADDAvenger on 11/12/2007 10:06:19 PM , Rating: 2
I never cared for I or II, but III was very good.


RE: Thumbnail
By daftrok on 11/12/2007 1:44:09 PM , Rating: 3
Dude, open your eyes. Matrix 2 and 3 had great action but the story went on such insane tangents that it pretty much became retarded. And Star Wars 1 & 2 sucked...3 was ok.


RE: Thumbnail
By Terberculosis on 11/12/2007 5:43:29 PM , Rating: 2
Am I the only one who was more disapointed with the action in the Matix sequels than the story? the story was decent, the action went too over the top with the bad CG (Plastic Neo fighting dozens of plastic Smiths anyone?)

As far as Starwars 1-3 I think everyone was just dissapointed with how much of a pussy Anakin turned out to be.


Hackers?
By JTKTR on 11/12/2007 10:26:46 AM , Rating: 2
Anyone else reminded of the movie Hackers?




RE: Hackers?
By DEVGRU on 11/12/2007 10:52:39 AM , Rating: 3
No.

Seeing as how it was a typical Hollywood classic glossing-over and one of the most unrealistic and phony portrayal's of the actual Hacking community to-date. The pathetic name dropping, the fact that the 'hackers' used Macs (LMAO, seriously), and the throwing around of jargon clearly because Hollywood 'writers' thought it sounded cool, to name a FEW...

No. The ONLY good things about 'Hackers' was Angelina Jolie and the soundtrack.


RE: Hackers?
By iFX on 11/12/2007 10:55:23 AM , Rating: 2
Ahh it's a decent flick to watch, say, once a year. We all know it's 110% BS but it's entertaining at least.


RE: Hackers?
By FITCamaro on 11/12/2007 11:01:19 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah it's entertaining because of how funny it is to watch. (being serious there)

Especially the super excited description of Jolie's laptop.


RE: Hackers?
By tehfire on 11/12/2007 11:18:53 AM , Rating: 2
Man, kinda reminds me of the movie "Antitrust". Anybody else get the feeling that somebody's gonna really believe that MS kills open-source kids for code?


RE: Hackers?
By zombiexl on 11/12/2007 12:33:11 PM , Rating: 2
You mean they dont?


RE: Hackers?
By SavagePotato on 11/12/2007 5:18:09 PM , Rating: 5
You look at those pictures of Steve Balmer and tell me that man does not kill and eat babies of open source programmers.

I dare you.

Hell that guy probably eats babies just as a general rule.


Good riddance!
By iFX on 11/12/2007 10:12:35 AM , Rating: 2
I think he should be caned in public first.




RE: Good riddance!
By Samus on 11/12/2007 10:32:16 AM , Rating: 2
I'm so tired of cleaning spyware off dumba...I mean...people's computers...it all makes my feet sad.

It shouldn't take long for Mr Pee Pant's to learn a new, errotic definition of "hi-jack" in the slam over the next 60 years.


RE: Good riddance!
By Dick Trickle on 11/12/07, Rating: -1
RE: Good riddance!
By Samus on 11/12/2007 7:37:42 PM , Rating: 1
What the hell were you thinking when you picked the handle 'Dick Trickle'

That makes my feet sad, too.


Very serious business...
By maverick85wd on 11/12/2007 10:55:47 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Investigators are now turning up the heat trying to stop groups from creating botnets to steal personal information.

Apparently this has gotten serious... the government has actually decided to do something!

Or so they report...




Hope
By fic2 on 11/12/2007 12:16:48 PM , Rating: 2
Hope he gets the full stretch and ends up someone's bitch.




Please please PLEASE
By SavagePotato on 11/12/2007 5:24:49 PM , Rating: 2
Please tell me that the ass-face that is responsible for the Winantispyware / Winantivirus line of malware is next in line to be beaten down by this law.

Man oh man the people that make this garbage need to be sent to Nigeria bare naked with I hate niggers tattooed on their back.

Had some old lady on the phone just last thursday wondering why her computer was slow and barely running with broken networking. Turns out Winantivirus 2007 which she gave her credit card number for was the reason. Had to tell the poor woman she probably ought to be canceling that credit card asap.




Give him a break!
By Dick Trickle on 11/12/07, Rating: -1
RE: Give him a break!
By kontorotsui on 11/12/2007 11:00:31 AM , Rating: 2
People like this guy should do an honest job, as they are supposed to.


RE: Give him a break!
By FITCamaro on 11/12/2007 11:05:25 AM , Rating: 5
God I wish I could rate you to a zero. They're forced to steal to make a living? Is this a joke? Billions of people make an honest living every day. And with the skills he clearly had, he could have put them to good use working for a company or even starting his own.

He did what he wanted to do. You should go to prison just for thinking he was justified in what he did. Stealing a loaf of bread because you're starving is justified. Stealing millions of people's credit card information because you don't want work or want to prove you can is not.


RE: Give him a break!
By Moishe on 11/12/2007 11:30:37 AM , Rating: 5
This isn't like some dude who can't feed his kids in africa who swipes some grain... This is a guy in the U.S. (where anyone with a quarter brain cell can live just fine) who chose to take the "easy" way to get rich.

This guy deserves everything he gets from the "justice" system and probably more.


RE: Give him a break!
By Drexial on 11/12/2007 11:43:55 AM , Rating: 2
i think your forgetting the part of the article that said he was PAID to do things for peoples computers and decided he needed to install more to steal from people. PEOPLE, not some money grubbing oil company. nameless faces that could now be in financial ruin for all we know. it was absolutely selfish actions.


RE: Give him a break!
By FITCamaro on 11/12/2007 12:04:11 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
PEOPLE, not some money grubbing oil company.


Stealing is stealing. It doesn't matter who the victim is, rich or poor.


RE: Give him a break!
By dever on 11/12/2007 1:09:15 PM , Rating: 5
Yes, thank you. Stealing from some "money grubbing oil company" is just stealing from the millions of people who's company penchant or 401k invests in that company. Or the thousands of people who have the privilege of employment through that company. I'm so sick of people trying to justify their hatred for "big industry." Most of the people that make up "big companies" are just like you and me.

Companies are people. They are employees and investors risking their time, money and livelihood, working to offer services or products to other people who can freely choose to purchase them or not. Direct your hatred toward regulations and policies that restrict our freedoms. Don't just blinding mimic what you hear in a B movie plot.


RE: Give him a break!
By sj420 on 11/12/2007 2:48:54 PM , Rating: 1
True, but no one is saying that the employee's of the big company aren't being screwed by the man as well. They probably have to do crap paperwork, work too many hours, and get paid too little.

What people are talking about when they say "big companies" is the fat guy at the top who SITS in his office allllll day long and smokes a cigar and drinks scotch on the rocks, not DOING ANYTHING. That is what we are speaking of. Who knows what he does, stamps paperwork, nothing worth the time or the money he "makes". this is what we refer to when we say "big companies steal money" because the guy at the top doesn't consider the consumer, or any of his employee's, he considers himself. He is stuffing extra money that he should be paying his employee's or putting into the companies product R&D etc, into his pocket; Wanting another yacht, another house in the bahamas, or another benz.

People know about the workers, the workers are the people. We are all just people but its the ones at the top that are usually corrupt and greedy. After all that is how you get to running a big company, screwing everyone over for money. Or so todays commercial world chooses to think.


RE: Give him a break!
By Parhel on 11/12/2007 3:04:06 PM , Rating: 3
It's a myth that "the guy at the top" doesn't really do anything, just sits back and gets rich. In general, the higher you are in the chain, the more responsibilities you have.

As far as the "corrupt and greedy" comment, that's quite a stretch. Some people are and some aren't no matter what level they are at. But, you can't run an organization very will if you aren't extremely money conscious, and that isn't the same as greedy.


RE: Give him a break!
By mindless1 on 11/12/2007 7:31:14 PM , Rating: 2
The guy at the top may do a little bit, and his decisions may have more profound consequences, but in general s/he does just sit back and get rich. Your local garbage man does more work and is just as responsible showing up every day for such a crap job, as are the millions of others working everywhere.


RE: Give him a break!
By djc208 on 11/13/2007 11:52:19 AM , Rating: 2
It's those "profound consequences" and the education and experience that make him worth whatever he managed to get the company to pay him.

If the garbage man makes a mistake the consequences will be limited and fairly minor. A bad decision by the CEO could cost money and jobs, or even kill the whole company. That extra responsability is what gets the extra 0's on his paycheck.

By the same token if the garbage man quits you replace him/her with just about any other person off the street with a little training (garbage goes in truck, don't hit things, have a good day).

Just about every CEO will be college educated (MBA at a minimum usually), and lots of experience inside corporate culture. It's no different than sports, anyone can play basketball the guys in the NBA make millions doing it because they do it better than everyone else.

Besides, I'd bet a lot of CEO's work more hours than many of us do in an average year.


RE: Give him a break!
By mindless1 on 11/12/2007 7:40:35 PM , Rating: 2
A typical mindset of someone stealing from a company is that the individual deserves more than they have (too broad a topic to cover, maybe they really do or maybe their ego is inflated) and that stealing from the company is like society giving them their due as the loss is diffused among many people instead of a direct larger harm to only one.

Companies aren't just people, they are people conspiring together for profit and sometimes, hiding behind that company as an excuse to do things they would not as an individual. Often people acting on behalf of their company feel insulated from personal responsiblity and liablity and this is a marked difference in relating to individuals.

Yes, direct your hatred towards regulations and polices, and towards companies that follow them. If you must have hatred instead of an intellectual resolution then it should be thought through until it is intellectually resolved and part of that is recognizing what caused the emotional response to a company, that for all those who irrationally assign hatred there are also those who hate a company because of specific individuals operating within that company, and others in the company that allow those individuals to do so.

If you and three others rob a bank, if you only stood there while the others pointed a gun and bagged the money, are you innocent? Similarly in a moral sense if you support a company where individuals are allowed to do wrong, there is a responsiblity shared amongst company members to some extent and now we're back to my original comment that those stealing from the company are diffusing the loss amongst the members.

I'm not advocating stealing, just explaining that it's not so simple as merely "companies are people" if people means individuals, as the whole point of it being a company is the gain of it NOT being individuals, to act together in ways they otherwise couldn't.


RE: Give him a break!
By rcc on 11/12/2007 6:33:48 PM , Rating: 1
Personally, I think he ought to be shot. And the people that think he's cool, or just doing what he has to should be locked up to be Bubba'b bu** buddy.


"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007









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