Online threats outpacing law crackdowns

By Joris Evers
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--Authorities are cracking down on phishing and botnets, but the threats are advancing instead of diminishing, two law enforcement officials said.

Cybercrooks are organizing better and moving to more sophisticated tactics to get their hands on confidential data and turn PCs of unwitting users into bots, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations said in separate presentations here at the Computer Security Institute's NetSec event this week.

Law enforcement has had increased successes in catching, prosecuting and convicting phishers and bot herders over the past couple of years. However, catching the bad guys is getting tougher as the criminals become more professional, the representatives said.





"We're seeing increasingly sophisticated groups online that are more indicative of crime groups," Jonathan Rusch, special counsel for fraud prevention at the Justice Department, said in a presentation. The criminals who have been caught range from teenagers to retirees, he said....for more of the story from CNET