US DOJ indicts Turkish man for cyber crimes valued at $55 million News
US DOJ indicts Turkish man for cyber crimes valued at $55 million

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Wednesday unsealed the indictment [document, PDF] of a Turkish man for allegedly organizing three cyber-attacks that led to an estimated $55 million in global losses. Ercan Findikoglu, after being extradited [Reuters report] to the US from Germany on Tuesday, plead not guilty to 18 counts, including computer intrusion conspiracy and bank fraud, in a federal court in Brooklyn, NY. Prosecutors believe that Findikoglu was behind the organization of hackers that stole credit card data from 2010 to 2013 and distributed the information worldwide for others to make fraudulent ATM withdrawals. The charges were announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie [official profile] for the Eastern District of New York and Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Sica of the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office [official website]. Sica stated [press release]:

Today, we recognize our international law enforcement partners who were instrumental in the extradition of Ercan Findikoglu… The significance of this case cannot be understated as Findikoglu is the alleged mastermind behind the global ATM cashout operations which plagued the financial services sector from 2010 until his capture in late 2013.

Due to cybercrime’s international reach, many countries have recently began to implement specific laws pertaining to the Internet and cyberspace. In May a former US government employee with the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission was charged [JURIST report] with a four count violation of federal law in connection with an attempted phishing scheme involving Department of Energy employee emails. In July 2014, police arrested seven individuals [JURIST report] on charges connecting them to an international group that defrauded the online ticketing service StubHub of approximately $1.6 million. In February, the Philippines high court upheld [JURIST report] its Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; which combats various online crimes such as hacking, identify theft, child pornography and libel. In April 2013, the US House of Representatives passed [JURIST report] the controversial cybersecurity bill known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) [text, PDF] which was designed as a way to stop cyber attacks on US infrastructure as well as private companies.

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