back to article Kingpin in $1m global bank malware ring gets five years in chokey

A villain at the heart of an organized crime network that stole £840k ($1m) from victims' online bank accounts has been jailed. Tomasz Skowron, 29, of Meredith Road, Worthing, England, was sent down for five years and three months on Monday at Croydon Crown Court, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud, fraud, and …

  1. ZSn

    Kingpin

    Kingpin is a much overused word - especially someone who couldn't be bothered to mask his real IP number or encrypt his drives.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Kingpin

      Yeah, sure, but it fit nicely in the space for the headline and we got to use 'villain' in the intro. That word needs more love.

      C.

    2. David Roberts

      Re: Kingpin

      In motoring terms he sounds less of a kingpin or a hub than a tailpipe.

      Just a small part at the back end of the crime.

      Handling relatively small sums, according to the report.

      1. emmanuel goldstein

        Re: Kingpin

        If we're using motoring terms, "dipstick" seems to fit the bill nicely.

      2. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: David Roberts

        The cops described him as a "key player" which fits the definition of a kingpin: "a person or thing that is essential to the success of an organization or operation."

        Kingpin doesn't mean the boss - it means, well, a key player. A vital villain. A crucial crook.

        C.

        1. Mike Moyle

          Re: Re: David Roberts

          ...a requisite reprobate?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Use a compromised proxy you dickhead

    Fucking amateurs.

    1. waldo kitty
      Facepalm

      Re: Use a compromised proxy you dickhead

      please don't insult the real dickheads of the world... this one is just barely a wannabe...

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Use a compromised proxy you dickhead

        "this one is just barely a wannabe"

        He still doesn't beat the robber who left his jacket at the scene

        Yes, his was the one with his library card in the pocket

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best be less dismissive and helpful

    I, for one, am very glad that the majority of criminals is still falling short in the thinking department and I'd certainly not be keen on educating them to become better at avoiding getting nicked.

    Call it enlightened self interest :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Best be less dismissive and helpful

      I would gladly help anybody, but people like this don't listen. He got caught via his bad bank transactions and timing, the IP address just lightly tied him to some of the related crimes. In other words, he would have been caught in any number of ways, most of which do not involve his home computer. That faux pas could have easily been avoided.

      The people he performed his miracle "MITM" attack on don't sound savvy either. Where there are easy marks, there will be script "kiddies" to foist their vulns on. Not bothering to test for, and mitigate, stray data is an afterthought at best. I guess Kingpin == Kiddie

      We have learned almost nothing.

  4. Jan 0 Silver badge

    Those eyes!

    Which drug makes your eyelids as red as your lips? What's he on?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Kingpin and man-in-the-middle attacks

    Is this a serious tech site or the Daily Fail. A man-in-the-middle attack is when a malicious entity inserts itself between an encrypted two way communication such as it can masquerade as either legitimate party. I thought 'money laundering' was taking the proceeds of someone elses drug business and er .. laundering the money and taking a cut. Look it, you can't use your own bank account and home IP address and still be kingpin of an organized crime network.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Kingpin and man-in-the-middle attacks

      No, sorry, man-in-the-middle is any kind of attacks where you route traffic that should be go to and from two endpoints through a third you control to inspect and/or modify it, encrypted or not encrypted. Good encryption is actually a way to render a MITM attack useless, unless the attacker is in a position to break or remove encryption. Actually, encryption itself was mostly born to make the "man in the middle" (i.e. the courier who had to dispatch the message), unable to understand it.

    2. Richard 26

      Re: Kingpin and man-in-the-middle attacks

      " I thought 'money laundering' was taking the proceeds of someone elses drug business..."

      That is the conventional meaning: however, you are pretty much committing a money laundering offence when you are a) a criminal, and b) using a bank. Or on a bad day just b).

      In this case when you are have mules to withdraw the cash it's not even a stretch to add that as a charge.

  6. Androgynous Cow Herd

    Dumb crooks get caught

    Prison is full of dumb crooks. The other kind don't get caught

  7. e^iπ+1=0

    Australia

    How come he's not being extradited to Australia?

    I'm sure if his victims had included a US bank he'd be on his way there by now.

    Come on, Aussies, up your game.

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