A Look at Russian Hacking

M O S C O W, Nov. 20 -- While the international space station brings newrenown to Russia, the nation is gaining a darker sort of noticefrom other explorers — hackers who launch into cyberspace.

Russia’s reputation as home to some of the world’s most giftedand devious hackers was underscored last month when Microsoft Corp.disclosed that passwords used to access its coveted source code hadbeen sent from the company network to an e-mail address in St.Petersburg.

It is by no means clear whether a Russian was behind thebreak-in — that e-mail account could have been managed remotely.But that doesn’t stop Russian hackers — “khakeri,” or“vzlomshchiki (house-breakers)” — from puffing out their chestsat such exploits.

Bragging Rights?

In a recent poll on a hacker-oriented Web site, 82 percent saidRussia had the world’s best hackers; only 5 percent said Americanswere better.

But the bravado is laced with frustration.

Hackers are motivated as much by a lack of opportunity ineconomically struggling Russia as by criminal leanings, peopleinside and outside the hacker community say.

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Sergei Pokrovsky, editor of the magazine Khaker, said thathackers in his circle have skills that could bring them richsalaries in the West, but they expect to earn only about $300 amonth working for Russian companies.

Russian higher education traditionally has been strong inmathematics, a skill at the core of hacking, but the Russian marketoffers few employment opportunities to such knowledgeable people,said Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research at the Finnishcompany F-Secure.

“They have too much time on their hands,” said Hypponen, whosecompany highly values the Russian computer experts it employs.

Russians have been behind several high-profile — and sometimeshighly lucrative — hacking cases. There was the cyberthief known as‘Maxus’ who stole credit-card numbers from Internet retailer CDUniverse earlier this year and demanded a $100,000 ransom. Whendenied the money, he posted 25,000 of the numbers on a Web site.Maxus was never caught.