Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk@c4i.org>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25579-2004Nov4.html
By Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
November 4, 2004
A former technology company executive charged with hiring hackers to
attack a competitor's Web site has joined the FBI's most-wanted list,
the latest sign of the federal law enforcement agency's growing
interest in cyber-crime.
In August, a federal grand jury indicted Saad "Jay" Echouafni, 37, the
former chief executive of Sudbury, Mass.-based Orbit Communication
Corp., on charges of hiring the hackers to take down the Web sites of
a large television services company called weaknees.com. The attacks,
FBI investigators said, made the company's Web site temporarily
unavailable, as well as the Web sites for Amazon.com and the
Department of Homeland Security. The attacks caused more than $2
million in damage, prosecutors said.
Echouafni, along with 150 other defendants, was indicted as part of a
Justice Department investigation code-named "Operation Cyberslam." But
it was his vanishing act that earned him a spot on the most-wanted
list, a group of more than a dozen people that includes some of
America's most elusive criminals. It includes alleged embezzlers, an
accused child pornographer and individuals indicted on drug and murder
charges.
It is not the same list as the notorious "10 Most Wanted," which the
FBI launched in 1950 to bring national recognition to some of the
nation's most dangerous fugitives. Rather, it is a list that the
bureau started almost five years ago on its Web site to nab suspects
who are less of a threat or less prone toward physical violence, said
spokesman Paul Bresson.
Echouafni joins the likes of Jie Dong, who is charged with defrauding
Internet auction sites out of nearly $1 million. A federal arrest
warrant issued in California said Dong stiffed more than 5,000 winning
bidders and fled the country. The FBI says Dong may now be somewhere
in China or Hong Kong.
Jerrod Lochmiller, 31, is charged with stealing at least $40,000 from
18 victims who thought they bought computers, televisions, musical
instruments and other high-priced items at online auctions. Lochmiller
also is charged with selling fake identification materials on the
Internet.
Johnny Ray Gasca, an ex-convict and aspiring screenwriter, was
indicted on charges of videotaping movies at private screenings in Los
Angeles before they were publicly released. Gasca was scheduled to
stand trial on Jan. 13, 2004, but one week earlier he eluded
authorities after reportedly going to a local drugstore to buy cold
medication.
The inclusion of these kinds of accused criminals throws weight behind
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III's decision to make cyber-crime one
of the agency's top three investigative priorities, Bresson said.
This action sends a message that the bureau is doing more than just
talking about cyber-crime, said Mark Rasch, former prosecutor in the
Justice Department's computer crimes and intellectual property section
and chief security counsel at McLean, Va.-based Internet security firm
Solutionary.
"This is the first time we've had such a significant number of people
being investigated and prosecuted for computer crime," Rasch said.
"And we're only going to see this trend continue because investigators
are getting better at identifying these individuals."
The list, which currently includes 16 suspects, is located at
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/alert/alert.htm.
*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
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