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TECHNOLOGY-BRAZIL:
Cybercrime
Capital of the World?
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, (IPS) -
Criminals to some, innovators to
others, computer ”hackers” are a
fact of life in the globalised
world of information technology
-- and a surprisingly large
number of them are based in
Brazil.
South Korea recently informed
the Brazilian authorities that
over 5,000 websites in the Asian
nation had been invaded by
individuals operating out of
Brazil.
The term ”hacker” is commonly
used to refer to people who use
their programming skills to gain
illegal access to computer
systems for the purpose of
stealing or modifying data.
By definition, however, hackers
are simply computer enthusiasts,
often untrained amateurs, and
those guilty of such misdeeds
are more correctly described as
”crackers”.
In any event, the onslaught of
digital attacks from people
based in South America's largest
nation led the South Korean
authorities to request Brazil's
cooperation in curbing this
illegal activity, Brazilian
Federal Police computer expert
Paulo Quintiliano told IPS.
Zone-H.org, a website that
records hacking or ”defacement”
incidents, reported that the
Hollywood studio Paramount
Pictures' website for the Steven
Spielberg movie ”War of the
Worlds” had been invaded on Feb.
13 by a Brazilian hacker
nicknamed ”Un-root”.
Until the following day, instead
of a trailer for the science
fiction film based on the H.G.
Wells novel, visitors to the
website found a message in
Portuguese advocating ”a better
world”, described as ”a
capitalist society with
socialist influences.”
In January, another Brazilian,
Marcos Velasco, enjoyed his 15
minutes of fame as the subject
of an article in The New York
Times. Velasco developed a cell
phone virus -- which he named
after himself -- and then
published the virus codes on his
own website.
Velasco defended his actions by
stating on his website that his
goal was simply ”to share
knowledge,” so that people can
learn more about viruses and how
to defend themselves. He added
that his virus was in no way
harmful, ”it merely spreads.”
The 32-year-old software
developer also published the
codes for eliminating the virus,
which was strictly aimed at
”demonstrating a technique,”
since knowledge is meant to be
shared, he added.
As a result, Velasco is clearly
a ”hacker” in the true sense of
the word, in that there was no
harmful intent behind his
actions.
The difference between hackers
and crackers was discussed by
Spanish sociologist Manuel
Castells, a well-known analyst
of the social impact of the
”worldwide web” or Internet, at
the World Social Forum held in
Porto Alegre in southern Brazil
during the last week of January.
Castells pointed out that
hackers are generally ”peaceful”
individuals, who promote
technological innovations,
although the media generally
uses the term to refer to
”crackers”, aggressive invaders
who purposefully cause damage or
use their skills for personal
profit, by gaining access to
credit card numbers or bank
accounts, for example.
The Brazilian ”hacker” Un-root,
for instance, is actually a
group of ”average high school
students” between the ages of 15
and 19 -- according to their own
self-description -- who do not
view themselves as hackers or
”defacers”, since their only
goal is to ”protest social
injustice.”
The identity of Un-root was
revealed in an e-mail interview
given by one of the group's
members to the Brazilian daily O
Estado de Sao Paulo, and
published on Feb. 17. The
Un-root spokesperson reported
that the group had invaded
13,500 websites in the last six
months, adding, ”That's not very
many.”
But according to Quintiliano,
authorities in Brazil do not
recognise these terminological
distinctions. ”It's all computer
crime,” he said, which is
spreading like a plague in
Brazil. The Federal Police, an
agency of the Ministry of
Justice, created a specialised
group of computer experts in
1995 to combat this illicit
activity.
Quintiliano was a member of the
original group of 10 experts,
which has now grown to 42 and
will have tripled by the end of
this year, reflecting the urgent
need to confront the rapid
growth of this new form of
crime.
Last October, the Federal Police
arrested 53 people in a single
day, all of them members of a
ring that diverted money from
bank accounts through the
Internet. The ring operated out
of a number of states in
northern and northeastern
Brazil, in some cases from small
isolated towns.
Two smaller rings that also
specialised in bank fraud were
dismantled in February in
Brasilia, the nation's capital,
and the southern state of Rio
Grande do Sul.
Despite the increased efforts,
and successes, of the Brazilian
police, computer crime still
provokes greater losses today
for the country's banks than
traditional armed robbery,
according to statistics from the
Brazilian Banking Federation.
This new reality was highlighted
at the first International
Conference to Combat Computer
Crime, organised by the Federal
Police in Brasilia last
September. The meeting was
attended by some 500
participants, with 60 speakers
from 21 countries.
Quintiliano coordinated the
conference, where it was
revealed that of the 10 biggest
organised ”cybercrime” rings
operating in the world, eight
are Brazilian. Another meeting
is being planned for 2006.
The expert attributed Brazil's
prominent role to a greater
degree of organisation among
hackers and crackers, and
perhaps considerable amounts of
”creativity and spare time.”
Federal Police statistics
demonstrate that the growth in
computer crime has mirrored the
expansion of Internet use by
individuals, companies and
banks.
These criminal rings are not
made up solely of young computer
”geeks”, as per the
stereotypical portrayal of
hackers, Quintiliano noted.
There are also many adults
involved, and some of them are
bank employees who take
advantage of the information at
their fingertips. ”They don't
know a lot about computers, they
just use the codes available to
them through the Internet.”
The greatest obstacle to
fighting this new type of crime
is the fact that it transcends
national borders, leading to the
need for support from other
countries, he stressed. As a
result, a worldwide network for
cooperation in combating
cybercrime is being developed
and expanded, allowing for
direct communication among
national police agencies.
The situation has led to the
proliferation of companies and
groups devoted to Internet
security. One of Brazil's
largest, NIC BR Security Office
(NBSO), recorded an overwhelming
increase in ”incidents” --
ranging from viruses to
invasions to fraud -- in the
last few years, with 5,997 cases
in 2000, 25,092 in 2002 and
75,722 last year.
SecureSynergy of India alleged
back in November 2002 that
”Brazil is now both a laboratory
for cybercrime and also its
largest exporter worldwide,” as
well as the second-biggest
victim of digital attacks, after
the United States.
At the time, the worldwide
economic damage from overt and
covert digital attacks,
including viruses and worms, was
estimated to be between 37 and
45 billion dollars.
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