Underground carders market. Translation of the book "KingPIN". Chapter 21. "Master Splyntr"

Kevin Poulsen, editor of the magazine WIRED, and in his childhood blackhat, the hacker Dark Dante, wrote a book about " one of his acquaintances ."

The book shows the path from a teenager-geek (but at the same time pitching), to a seasoned cyber-pahan, as well as some methods of the work of the special services to catch hackers and carders.

The book translation quest started in the summer in the IT camp for high school students - “ Kingpin: schoolchildren translate a book about hackers ”, then Habrayusers and even a little editorial staff joined the translation.
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(I apologize, the translation of the 20th chapter is lost, there is no power to wait and I will lay out the rest.)

Chapter 21. Master Splyntr

(for the translation thanks ungswar )

Occupying an entire floor of a green office building on the banks of the Monongahil River, the National Cyber ​​Forensics and Training Alliance (NACCO) was very far from the secrecy of the Washington intelligence community, where Mularski took his first steps. Here, dozens of security experts from banks and technology companies worked along with students from nearby Carnegie Mellon University in heaped neat booths surrounded by a ring of cabinets and then walls of tinted glass. With the Aeron * chairs and the whiteboards, the office created the feeling of one of the technology companies that supplied NACCO with the bulk of the funds. The FBI made several changes before entering, reworked one of the cabinets in the electronic communications room, filled it with government-approved computers and encryption equipment to safely communicate with Washington.

In his office, Mularsky studied Crabbe's communications scheme — the postal inspector, who sent it by e-mail — a large diagram showing the various connections between the 125 targets from the underground. Mularsky realized that he did everything wrong: he was expecting a crime, and then he tried to figure out the culprits. The criminals did not hide at all. They advertised their services on the forums. This made them vulnerable, as well as the rituals and strict hierarchy of the New York and Chicago mafia, which gave the FBI instructions to break the gang a decade ago.

All he had to do now was join the carders.

He chose a forum from the list that Crabbe sent him and clicked on the account registration link. According to the rules of the Department of Justice, Mularsky could not be introduced to the forums without the consent of Washington, the terms of which assumed that he would observe strict restrictions in his activities. In order to maintain his cover, he could post on the forums, but he could not interact with anyone directly; He will be allowed no more than three "essential contacts" with any of the forum participants. Participation in crimes or making control purchases was beyond the bounds of what is permitted.

All this could only be a data collection operation; he will be a sponge absorbing information about his opponents.

As soon as he registered, he faced the need to make the first important strategic decision: what would his nickname be? Mularski trusted his intuition. Inspired by the cartoon “Ninja Turtles”, which was shown in the mornings, the agent stopped at the nickname of the rodent-sensei living in the sewers of karate masters - a two-legged rat named Master Splinter. For uniqueness and giving a hacker note, he wrote his last name without “extra” vowels. (Splinter - Splyntr).

So, in July 2005, Master Splintr registered at his first criminal forum CarderPortal, laughing to himself at the game of meanings - for the underground forum he took the name of an underground rat.

Soon Mularski played on cardin forums like a chessboard, relying on the NACCO data stream for fraud for his moves.

The center was directly involved in countering fraud related to banks and e-commerce sites, so when a new criminal innovation appeared, Mularski knew about it. He posted their schemes on CarderPortal, posing as his own inventions.

Advanced scammers were given a diva from a beginner, who independently mastered all their newest chips. When fraud methods became available to the general public and appeared in the media, newcomers remembered that they had first heard them from Master Stplintra.

In the meantime, the FBI agent absorbed the forums history, honing his vocabulary to fit the cynical, unprintable style of the underground.

A few months later, Mularsky was faced with the first call in his information gathering operation. The first forums that grew up in the ruins of Shadowcrew accepted new members with open arms - frightened by the Operation Firewall, many scammers took on new nicknames and, in the absence of a reputation, the carders had no opportunity to test each other when trading. Now this situation has changed. A new type of "guaranteeing" forums has appeared. The only way to get there was to get the support of two existing members. But after all, Mularski, bound by the restrictions of the Department of Justice, intentionally avoided building direct links with the underground. Who will vouch for him?

Borrowing the idea from the novel by Robert Ludlam, Mularsky decided that Master Splintr needed a legend that could promote him to new criminal forums. His thoughts were directed towards the European anti-spam organization called “Spamhaus” with which he had worked in previous FBI operations.

Founded by a former musician in 1998, Spamhaus compiled lists of constantly changing Internet addresses of garbage distributors in consumers' mailboxes; their spam source database was used by two thirds of the international Internet service providers as blacklists. More interesting for Mularski was the list of the most wanted spammers that was compiled by the same company.

Composed of such as Alan "Spam King" Ralski and Russian Leo "BadCow" Kuvaev, the Registry of Known Spam Operators (eng. Abbr. - ROKSO), was second only to the federal indictments regarding lists name.

Mularski called founder Steve Linford in Monaco to explain the scheme: he wanted to go to ROKSO or, at least, to Master Splintr there. Linford agreed and Mularski continued to work on his legend. The best lie is always based on truth, so Mularsky decided to make Splintra a Polish spammer. Father’s Mularski was from Polish immigrants — a shirt issued by the bureau concealed the tattoo of Orzel Bialy (Polish — White Eagle) on his left hand — a white eagle with a golden beak and claws that adorned the Polish coat of arms. Mularski located the Master Splintra in Warsaw, he visited the Polish capital and could, if necessary, quite tolerably describe the sights.

In August, ROKSO lists were released for the first time, linking the “real” name with the cartoon Alter-invented by Mularski.
Pavel Kaminsky aka "Master Splintr" manages a poorly organized team of spammers and fraudsters from Eastern Europe. Maybe a BadCow partner. It is associated with spam through proxy, phishing, pump'n'dump **, exploits, forums, carders and botnets.

The profile contained examples of fraudulent spam messages allegedly sent by Pavel Kaminsky, created at Spamhaus, and an analysis of the location of its hosting sites.

Now the carders who buzzed Master Splintra could see that he was a real, conscientious hacker implicated in many slippery things. When Mularsky logged on to CarderPortal, he saw in his inbox several business proposals from scammers hoping to work with him. Still limited to the prohibition of directly interacting with the suspects, he disdainfully dismissed them.

You're not a very big player, he answered. I do not want to work with you, because I am a professional, and you are obviously new to this. In order to beat off the scammers of the highest echelon, he challenged their wallet: you do not have enough money to invest in what I do.

Like the inaccessibility of the girl at graduation, the alienation of Master Splintra only made him even more attractive. When a new closed forum called the International Association for the Development of Criminal Activity (English Abbr. - IAACA) was launched, he posted a simple post: “Hi, I need a guarantee,” and two existing members vowed solely for his reputation.

Then he received a guarantee for Theft Services, then for CardersArmy. In November 2005, he was one of the first to be invited to the new Darkmarket.ws forum.

A few months later, another, rival site has grown enough to get on its radar. And Master Splintr joined Cardersmarket.com.

* Office chair, designed in 94 by Don Chadwick and Bill Stampf. Presented in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

** The scheme of fraud with the lowering / raising the prices of shares of small public companies.

To be continued