Bulletproof hosting firm claims legitimacy
Crime-laden Russian service threatens to sue detractors.
A notorious Russian firm offering 'bulletproof hosting' - website hosting services with a guarantee that sites will not
be taken down if found to be serving up illegal content, spam, malware, phishing sites etc. - has claimed in a media
interview that its services are entirely genuine and legal, and hinted at plans to take legal action against security
firms who have criticised its behaviour.
After a report in the Washington Post described the activities of the firm as 'a world hub for websites devoted
to child pornography, spamming and identity theft', a representative of the St Petersburg-based Russian Business
Network (RBN) gave an in-depth interview to Wired magazine, complaining of a steady stream of criticism
from, among others, iDefense and parent VeriSign, Symantec, SANS and SpamHaus.
The spokesman said that the company is considering legal action to remove its
listing on the SpamHaus 'ROKSO' list
of the most notorious spam operations, which describes the firm as 'continuously hosting child pornography, malware,
phishing and cybercrime'.
The firm's services are expensive and mostly advertised by word-of-mouth among the cybercriminal underworld, according
to security watchers. A Kaspersky Labs representative suggested that they are careful to avoid breaching any
local laws, making it difficult for international agencies to persuade Russian law enforcement to intervene.
The Washington Post piece on RBN's activities is
here, and the
interview given to Wired is here.
An earlier report on RBN, in The Economist, is
here.
17 October 2007
Tags:
bulletproof hosting, cybercrime, legal, phishing, spam, spamhaus.
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