AfterDawn: News

Man arrested for P2P ID theft

A Seattle man has been arrested for allegedly using OP2P software including Soulseek and Limewire to steal personal/private information of users. Gregory Kopiloff, 35, scoured through users systems looking for information he could use such as income tax returns, student financial aid applications, credit reports and other sensitive data that would help him impersonate the victims

He used this data to create bogus credit card accounts which he then used to order thousands of dollars worth of goods, which he later sold on for half the price. So far, investigators have identified 83 different victims. He has been charged with mail fraud, computer hacking and aggravated identity theft offenses and faces a maximum of 29 years in prison.



These scams are possible because many users unknowingly share their entire hard drives, or sensitive folders on P2P networks. This often happens by accident while updating software but it also can be a case of the user not understanding how to use P2P networks and what the significance of a shared folder actually is.

Source:
The Register

Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 Sep 2007 19:47

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• 24 comments

• jetyi83

  well this is obviously not hacking, its stupid people sharing their personal information, and letting a piece of sht take advantage of it.
  
  i think he needs to go to jail for the maximum sentence, but its definitely not hacking, its just searching.

  11.9.2007 21:02 #1

• windsong

  Im glad Im sticking with emule.

  11.9.2007 21:06 #2

• td1ddy

  Hm... jail for 25 years? No, don't waste the rest of his life because he found flaws in idiot's computers. Instead, have him pay some fines, be without internet access for a year, maybe give him 1 year. Wow....

  11.9.2007 22:15 #3

• lawndog

  I wonder if this is a legit news report, or one fabricated by certain groups like MPAA. Why?? To further push their agenda.
  Wouldn't be the first time this happened
  LD

  11.9.2007 22:45 #4

• svtstang

  Originally posted by td1ddy: Hm... jail for 25 years? No, don't waste the rest of his life because he found flaws in idiot's computers. Instead, have him pay some fines, be without internet access for a year, maybe give him 1 year. Wow....Erm, you are joking right? This pos could have/might have/did ruin a lot of people's credit, and more so their lives. Pay a fine, no internet access for a year?? Lock him up for the full 29 years rather! Maybe before he gets locked up he can buy a couple soap's on a rope with the fraudulent credit cards he acquired :)

  11.9.2007 22:46 #5

• edsrouter

  These are the kind of white collar crimes that should follow this loser around forever like a "sexual offender" list does.
  
  I'm not really super skilled in programming, but what are the chances that someone really could or does hack or exploit something like a Limewire which is, afterall, an Open Source program? I know the story stresses it's mostly the stupidity of people, but Limewire and a lot of other P2P programs generally are given automatic firewall clearance. I really don't know anything about how secure P2P is. So there's a question... Used properly (and not stupidly like the example in the story) could a popular P2P program exploit an entire system?

  11.9.2007 22:54 #6

• svtstang

  That is a good question, hopefully somebody can answer that. I have never really heard of anything the severe, but is not in the least bit surprising. Went to a neighbors to sort out his wireless months ago, of course he had limewire. His share folder consisted of a 50 gig partition lol....
  

  
  
  It is within the forum rules ddp, i swear!! :P

  11.9.2007 23:02 #7

• ahiah9

  Can't go as far as to agree with td1ddy, but honestly, if you don't want people to know this information about you... don't share it. It surely stems from the fact that these people didn't know how to properly set up their p2p. However, I wonder if the fact that this information was shared, and that shared files are intended to be used by the people dling them can be used as a defense for this guy? It won't get him off completely, but with a crafty lawyer can he lessen his time?

  12.9.2007 03:08 #8

• Bobby728

  Whether or not the people were stupid about there personal information,and not understanding how P2P works.There is something called right and wrong,and human morals.Cmon people,just because the people aint bright,doesnt mean the person responsible for downloading there information wasn't in the wrong!!
  
  He planed ahead and used information for ID theft,credit card fraud.Student aid information this kind of stuff can ruin peoples lives.

  12.9.2007 10:53 #9

• deadlove

  But.. and theres a big BUT here.. He could have got this information in any number of ways.. rooting through peoples trash, double swiping credit cards, installing a device on atm machines and any number of other ways. This guy chose to root around in the share folders of people who are stupid enough to leave sensitive data in there.. probably like a lot I see by making the whole HDD the "share" directory.
  With this in mind.. Is the penalty being ranted for by some in this thread, and threatened by the courts any more extreme than if he had got the information in any other way and used it for the same illegal purposes? If so then it's unjust and unfair to him. He has only exploited peoples stupidity/carelessness for his own gain.
  
  Some people will still rant on that he should be locked away forever. credit ratings can be easily fixed with information about the bad things being corrected.. That can be done, and money stolen by this man replaced. Not exactly murder is it?
  
  It still smacks of a real double standard though.. It's ok for the mpaa/riaa and governments to hack into your secure data and use it for whatever, and for businesses to share sensitive information about you around the place, but not for an individual to do the same.. bah humbug.. until the law applies for everybody evenly and fairly it's nothing more than a whipping boy for whatever faction wants to abuse it.
  
  As for limewire/emule and all the rest of those outdated p2p applications. I wonder how many users have downloaded what turns out to be a keylogger/backdoor instead of britney spears, which is probably how this guy got in originally. Tricked people into downloading his file and then looking for who has it. Quite simple in theory as with a little command (netstat -an) I can see the source of a file I am downloading.
  
  Even more reason not to use limewire and other p2p tools which allow unknown people to browse your files.

  12.9.2007 16:32 #10

• borhan9

  so much for one shared folder. Good that torrents are not like this.

  12.9.2007 16:33 #11

• jrff

  The only people to blame are the people who used limewire.
  Even after reading this, plenty of you will still use limewire no matter what, and, whoever uses it should be careful or pay the price. Serves them right having the details stolen.

  12.9.2007 16:42 #12

• dailyh

  One word. prepaidlegal.com mplaterjr77@prepaidlegal.com

  12.9.2007 18:22 #13

• cleverick

  Originally posted by jetyi83: well this is obviously not hacking, its stupid people sharing their personal information, and letting a piece of sht take advantage of it.
  
  i think he needs to go to jail for the maximum sentence, but its definitely not hacking, its just searching. i aggree with jetyi83. what he did with the info he got was illeagal. jrff is also correct. be very careful with your personal info kiddos.

  12.9.2007 18:26 #14

• patron

  29 years is a ridiculous number for this non-violent crime, I could understand 5-10 years with having to pay back every cent of what he stole from these people, murderers and rapists get less.

  13.9.2007 05:23 #15

• duke8888

  This is the newage of time for crimes, here in Pittsburgh our Federal Court went to California and charged a man with the same crime and they are seeking 20 years for him and most likly will get it. It seems if a crime can be so easy to commit like this they think make the laws harder on the crimanal so they don't do it again!

  13.9.2007 09:36 #16

• dufas

  Where I live, a cop got drunk, drove at high speed, passed a school bus letting off kids, hit a 13 year old kid and killed him then drove off ending up at his home. Citizens followed him and caught him trying to hide his car in his garage. The original crime included 12 charges. The DA dropped all but one of the charges and took him to court on an accidental manslaughter charge...The cop was sentenced to 4 years and will get out in 2 for good behavior probably with no probation. Yet, FBI warnings on video states that if caught copying, a $250,000.00 fine and 25 years sentence will be imposed.
  
  All this tells me is that a Hollywood movie is worth more than a person's life. I guess ID theft from stupid people is worth more also....

  13.9.2007 14:50 #17

• WierdName

  Originally posted by dailyh: One word. [edit].com [edit]@[edit].comI think I feel a ban coming on...
  
  EDIT- As for my input on the story, everyone is in the wrong; both the guy that stole the info and the idiots that might as well put their sensitive data out on billboards in their front lawns.

  13.9.2007 16:23 #18

• badaboy

  ,,,,,,,,,,,to start with.....DO NOT..put any sensible personnal info in a computer
  he THE MAN did it trough Limewire..WELL after 6 months even if they claimed free updates for a year..AND LIFETIME ONE PAY FEE ..they put in at bottom of interface NEW UPDATE available....they make it so that you have to pay again,,,and it becomes an upgrade to a new version,,,,and their way of doin things makes it necessary to go trough all the instructions and revise all PERSONNAL INFOS in there ,,,,,and that is where the hackers go for it if you have not tought of it,,AND TRY TO WRITE TO THEM,,,,YOU DO NOT EXIST ONCE YOU PAID
  and that also goes for a few more programs available,,ON THE MARKET ..so ,,check them out and dont leave your machine running if you are not using it.....and put the least of ANY NECESSARY info in a computer.....with all the spy cookies and bugs in there,,,,SOME ARE ALMOST ASKING FOR IT

  14.9.2007 18:43 #19

• vudoo

  Well I was going to ask the same question about a hacked Limewire that had a Trojan horse in it that would allow for a hack or an exploit of your system. However Limewire may not need be hacked from within itself. Meaning that Java exploits exist all the time however it doesn't mean that you downloaded a counter fit version of Java. It simply means that the web site had a script that manipulated its way into your system. In a similar fashion I suppose any p2p application could possibly be exploited. If your worried about Downloading music through a p2p program just go to www.deezer.com. Yes its legal and FREE on demand streaming. The music is supported via the ads in the website. And I've found stuff that I've not been able to find on p2p or even paid sites. Finally someone did something right.

  5.12.2007 00:47 #20

• td1ddy

  Yeah, I was kind of hasty...but think about it.....ruining someone's life for stealing. Someone's life, I mind you. Think about it. 25 years is all there is. 1 year locked up in jail is enough to give you an idea as to why not to do it again, hell, even 5. If you lock him up for 25 years, he's never getting that back. His whole life is done, and he can't get it back, ever. People don't seem to get that. Also, he is probably doing these people a favor. Making them aware of whats going on. I agree, he was in the wrong, but ....25 years...people have walked after 10 for murder.

  6.12.2007 00:03 #21

• lubricant

  finances are more important than lives in this country... we are talking about america right? i didnt read the whole article.
  

  -=HEY=-

  6.12.2007 20:57 #22

• lubricant

  more important from the viewpoint of the legal system and the business system... not necessarily to me
  

  -=HEY=-

  6.12.2007 21:36 #23

• jzncarter

  well the victim got punished so should the guy who did it, but let the punishment fit the crime .. 25 years???? get real.

  14.12.2007 05:09 #24