Geekfathers: CyberCrime Mobs Revealed

Organized gangs are taking over crime on the Web. The dons aren't traditional gun-toters and roughnecks, but they're not script-kiddies or digital pranksters, either. In this report we map out some of the major players, what they call themselves, how they

Crime is now organized on the Internet. Operating in the anonymity of cyberspace, Web mobs with names like Shadowcrew and stealthdivision are building networks that help crackers and phishers, money launderers and fences skim off some of the billions that travel through the Web every day.

The players and their games change so quickly it's hard to piece together who they are and how they work together. But that picture's becoming more clear, as the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies crack open the networks and prosecute those that run them.

In this special report, writers Deborah Gage and John McCormick map out how the networks get started, how they work, what they steal, and how the feds stay on their tails.

Lead Story: Shadowcrew: Web Mobs Online crime is getting organized in a serious way.

Introduction

Cyber-Forensics: Following the Trail

Geekfather, or College Student?

Covering Their Tracks

The Law Closes In

Prevention and Defense
Also check out:

In Shadowcrew, Law Enforcement Roster, Gage profiles some of the white hats and the black, to show how cops and crooks match up.

In Gotcha: Hack Attacks, David Carr lays out the newest scams, and shows how an old trick can still be a good one if you make it nasty enough.

In Cybercrime's Most Wanted, we list a few of the cops' successes: Mobs that are out of business.

In Critical Data: A snapshot of Shadowcrew and its modus operandi.

Calculate your own exposure and the cost of keeping the crooks at bay in Planner: Calculating the Costs of Fraud Protection.

Sound Off:
We want to hear from you.Can cybercrime realistically be curbed? How?