Russian Hackers Vanish

The Russian criminal hacking group, RBN, seems to have shut up shop, leaving people wondering where they’ll surface again.

Notorious hackers, the Russian Business Network (RBN), which was based in St. Petersburg, appears to have vanished, according to a report in the Times Online. Now people are wondering where they will appear again, and the speculation is that they might be moving to a new home in China.   The RBN, which is headed by a man known only as Flyman, has been linked to child pornography, corporate blackmail, spam attacks and online identity theft.   It acted as a one-stop shop for criminals, hosting services for the Rock Group, which took in an estimated $150 million in 2006 through phishing activities. RBN also provided fake sites for other groups, allowing them to harvest passwords and personal information.   Some security companies have seen links between RBN and the Russian government as well as the greater criminal mafia in the country. No one seems to know why RBN has quietly stopped its activities over the last week, although speculation has ranged far and wide. But bulk registries of web addresses in China have raised concerns that the company may be setting up shop there.   Cybercrime has been estimated to be worth more than $100 billion a year by the U.S. Treasury.