|
IRC Network Admin: More Then You Bargained For
17 March 2008
Many people wish to have their own IRC network. Once a basic network is setup they advertise the network to gain users, in the hope many will find and start using it. But what if they abuse your good intentions and start using your infrastructure to host bots engaged in illegal activities? Then things can start to become a real life nightmare. In this article we follow Dewd, from network admin to a suspect criminal with a 10 year prison sentence hanging above his head.
Dewd started his network in 2005, and as many fresh network admins do, started advertising the network in as many places he could find such as SearchIRC and mIRC's servers.ini file.
With the advertising came users, including users he had not wished for. "Two pirates from Undernet have come and started to load their bots with fake nickname and fake channelname (#warez-rose) in secret mode (+s) trying to make it look like peer-to-peer bots but these bots wasn't for peer-to-peer I think."
Dewd installed IRC Defender to remove the bots from his network which worked well. But naturally, the bots would not be stopped from trying to connect to the network. Despite trying to keep his network free from such influences Dewd was arrested late February, along with 16 other suspects by Sûreté du Québec, Canadian's provincial police. The arrests included the two users loading the bots of which one is still in custody, according to Dewd. All 17 people are seen as suspect members of "a vast computer piracy network" as a police report explained.
"Over 100 countries on all of the continents are affected. Current damage to computer infrastructure is estimated at more than $45 million", the police report explains. The malicious users infected computers with malware in order to steal private data, DDoS, phising and use them for spamming.
"During the 17 searches conducted today, eight suspects were apprehended with an arrest warrant and will appear in court. The police questioned the other nine suspects, who have been released by way of summons." Maximum sentence for these crimes is 10 years in prison.
Dewd is not one of the eight, but he is not yet cleared as police is still investigating his computers. "The charge against me it's the uses illegally of a computer."
"We recommend that anyone who suspects that his computer has been hacked consult a computer specialist" the police report ends. This of course, is an advice IRC-Junkie fully recommends!
Dewd ends, "I'm under investigation since 2006, all what I do is downloading/chat a bit/watching funny video on the web... I'm not that kind of person who DDoS websites. Peer-to-peer isn't illegal in Canada. I download movies for me and my girl friend, also my kids. I'm not doing money with it, I download because I doesn't have enough of money for buy them."
An interview with Dewd for local media can be found here (French). The English language police report can be found here
You think you have something to add to this article? You can do so by using this form below! Your comment will be added on the bottom of this page.
??????On 18 March 2008 14:49, someone added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
Yes, I think this is a good step to get u2pop into jail
??????On 19 March 2008 20:46, Gabrielus aka dewd. added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
Hi guys, It's dewd.
If you want report any abuse, you should visit these links:
Computer Crime http://www.cybercrime.gov/reporting.htm
Internet Crime Complaint
http://www.ic3.gov/
Child Exploitation
http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/
FBI
http://www.fbi.gov/
INTERPOL
http://www.interpol.int/
??????On 19 March 2008 21:57, SolyTairE added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
io jeveix chatter
??????On 20 March 2008 23:13, PingBad added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
Lemme get this straight: The dude's been arrested for the actions of the 2 original pirates who tried to setup bots on his network, or is it because he downloaded movies via P2P?
If he's been charged with the former, my full support to him - it's not illegal to run an IRC network, except in some countries (I think Japan is among one of those) - and why should he be punished for the actions of a couple of unwanted users?
If it's the latter scenario (charged for piracy via P2P), then my sympathy will have waned - a lot.
I'm sorry, but I have little sympathy for pirates. Especially given what I do as a job, lifestyle and hobby - develop.
??????On 21 March 2008 8:06, Gabrielus aka dewd. added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
Gabrielus aka dewd. wrote:
"Hi guys, It's dewd.
If you want report any abuse, you should visit these links:
Computer Crime
http://www.cybercrime.gov/reporting.htm
Internet Crime Complaint
http://www.ic3.gov/
Child Exploitation
http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/
FBI
http://www.fbi.gov/
INTERPOL
http://www.interpol.int/
Undernet IRC Network Report-Abuse
http://www.report-abuse.net
"
??????On 21 March 2008 10:01, Asmo added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
PingBad wrote:
"If it's the latter scenario (charged for piracy via P2P), then my sympathy will have waned - a lot.
I'm sorry, but I have little sympathy for pirates. Especially given what I do as a job, lifestyle and hobby - develop.
"
There are countries where downloading is legal, like in my country the Netherlands. Don't think we get it for free though. We do pay in another way, with extra charges asked over empty media. This dates back to the musictape days where a charge was introduced that compensated artists for copies made from vinyl. A charge is asked over all empty media such as videotapes, CDR's DVDR's etc and it's quite substantial as well.
Hence it can't be called 'piracy' either. It is however illegal to upload, which of course is a weird construction when it comes to p2p, but then again that law was not made with p2p in mind.
??????On 2 April 2008 1:54, dan added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
I'm also a bit confused as to what he's been arrested / pending charges for? If it's a network he's running, surely he can't be arrested for bots connecting to his network - he's not involved with them.
Any clarification appreciated :P
??????On 2 April 2008 6:02, dewd added the next comment:
? ? ? ?
dan wrote:
"I'm also a bit confused as to what he's been arrested / pending charges for? If it's a network he's running, surely he can't be arrested for bots connecting to his network - he's not involved with them.
Any clarification appreciated :P"
Hi dan!
I'm a bit confused me too...
Its looks like they want more proof so that's why they're investigating my computers.
Well, the cops doesnt have the good guy for these bots, its required some times to verify everythings!
I hope I'll get back my computers who cost 700$can.
|
? 
? 
? 
? 
? 
? 
? 