I’m seeing a lot of press recently around “the best criminals in the world”. This is a topic that interests me - if you truly were the best criminal in the world, you wouldn’t have been caught - you’d leave a trail of breadcrumbs sufficient enough to let people know who you are (if you want notoriety, that is), but ensure that that same trail can never lead to you. There are those who want to take credit for their “work”, and will deliberately place themselves in the public eye, but to be truly effective, you’d have to remain off the radar completely in terms of your real identity.
I’m not referring to living in a cave, and remaining completely “off the grid” - your chosen path in terms of a “criminal hacker” (for example) by definition means you’d be online for a significant amount of time. However, mixing anonymity with recognition never ends well, and most of these so called “best” types often become complacent - eventually surfacing using an identity that can provide direct attribution. Take the case of Ross Ulbricht detailed here https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/04/world/americas/silk-road-ross-ulbricht/index.html and here https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/03/five-stupid-things-dread-pirate-roberts-did-to-get-arrested. Let’s review the most pertinent points
- Why would you clearly boast on LinkedIn about your drugs empire ?
- Why would you use an actual photo of yourself for a fake ID ?
- Why would you seek advice in a coding forum for an illegal site - using your real name ?
- Why would you use Google+ to make enquiries concerning the shipment of “goods” - that same profile containing your real name, photo, and a link to your YouTube profile ?
- Why would you pay USD 80,000 to “kill an adversary / rival” to an undercover cop ?
So, are these “self-accredited” masterminds really the best in the business, or are they simply self-absorbed narcissistic types who think they will never be caught ?
Very interested in views..
