Monsegur Research Papers

The FBI immediately put Hector X. Monsegur to work for three years to bring down the other top hackers in his group. 300 cyber-attacks were stopped and charges were given to six alleged hackers. Some of Monsegur’s crimes consisted of “three counts of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, computer hacking in furtherance of fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft” (Chad Bray). Most black hats should be dealt with in this manner; use their talents to catch other hackers first and then decide if he’s worthy of a pardon. He helped bring down a big threat, but that is no reason to set him loose. If the authorities hired more white and gray hats instead of jailing them and used captured black hats as a counter offense they could all prove very beneficial.
Once the hierarchy is disrupted, the authorities should follow the plan mentioned in Hacker’s Bazaar: The Markets for Cybercrime Tools and Stolen Data. It suggested that people prepare for hackers before an attack and not after they realize that they are defenseless. Computer owners should simply build strong complex passwords, be careful clicking links in emails, and be cautious when entering their credit card information. Commercial companies should teach their employees safe internet practices as well and train them to recognize suspicious sites, emails, and spam. They also proposed that the authorities set up traps for malicious hackers such as: fake credit card shops, fake websites, fake forums and more things that black hats usually target. Nevertheless, bringing down the black market where hackers get most of their tools would hinder millions of cyber-attacks. (Ablon and