FBI: Hackers Must Help Fight Web Mob

LAS VEGAS—The FBI’s point man for Internet crime wants hackers to join the fight against international gangs of Web mobsters.

Dan Larkin, unit chief of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, used the spotlight of the Black Hat security conference here to call for a new level of trust and cooperation between security researchers and law enforcement, warning that online crime is being controlled by “very sophisticated, very organized” attackers.

“More often than not, valuable information ends up in your hands before it gets to us,” Larkin told a standing room only gathering of security professionals. “We need to leverage your capabilities and your strengths. You have to be able to tap into us. We have to figure out how to team up and be better partners,” he added.

Even as his presentation centered on the escalation of what he described as “mobsters on the Internet,” Larkin said his unit has successfully created industry alliances with software vendors and academic institutions in the United States and overseas.

“We are being proactive to anticipate the threats. We now have frameworks where Citibank can share information with eBay and PayPal and we can track online crimes in the early stages,” Larkin said.

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