Payment Processor for Scareware Cybercrime Ring Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison

WASHINGTON – A Swedish credit card payment processor was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in an international cybercrime ring that netted $71 million by infecting victims’ computers with “scareware” and selling rogue antivirus software that was supposed to secure victims’ computers but was, in fact, useless, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Jenny A. Durkan and Special Agent in Charge Laura M. Laughlin of the FBI Seattle Division.

Mikael Patrick Sallnert, 37, a citizen of Sweden, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman in the Western District of Washington.  In addition to his prison term, Sallnert was ordered to pay $650,000 in forfeiture.

“Mikael Patrick Sallnert played an instrumental role in carrying out a massive cybercrime ring that victimized approximately 960,000 innocent victims,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “By facilitating payment processing, Sallnert allowed the cybercrime ring to collect millions of dollars from victims who were duped into believing their computers were compromised and could be fixed by the bogus software created by Sallnert’s co-conspirators.  Cybercrime poses a real threat to American consumers and businesses, and the Justice Department is committed to pursuing cybercriminals across the globe.”

 “Payment processors like this defendant are the backbone of the cybercrime underworld,” said U.S. Attorney Durkan.  “As an established businessman, this defendant put a stamp of legitimacy on cyber criminals.  He was involved in defrauding thousands of victims, and his actions contributed to insecurities in e-commerce that stifle the development of legitimate enterprises and increase the costs of e-commerce for everyone.”

“Partnerships are central to the FBI in accomplishing its mission,” said Special Agent in Charge Laughlin.  “This cyber crime ring spanned multiple countries—increasing the threat it posed and complicating the necessary law enforcement response.  Thanks to the commitment of many foreign partners and FBI entities across the nation, we were able to dismantle that threat and ensure Mr. Sallnert faced justice.  The FBI and its partners will continue to work tirelessly until we bring in the remaining perpetrators of this malicious scheme.”

Sallnert was arrested in Denmark on Jan. 19, 2012, and extradited to the United States in March 2012. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud. 

The prosecution of Sallnert is part of Operation Trident Tribunal, an ongoing, coordinated enforcement action targeting international cybercrime.  The operation targeted international cybercrime rings that caused more than $71 million in total losses to more than one million computer users through the sale of fraudulent computer security software known as “scareware.”  Scareware is malicious software that poses as legitimate computer security software and purports to detect a variety of threats on the affected computer that do not actually exist.   Users are then informed they must purchase what they are told is anti-virus software in order to repair their computers.  The users are then barraged with aggressive and disruptive notifications until they supply their credit card number and pay for the “anti-virus” product, which is, in fact, fake.

The scareware scheme used a variety of ruses to trick consumers into unknowingly infecting their computers with the malicious scareware products, including web pages featuring fake computer scans.  Once the scareware was downloaded, victims were notified that their computers were infected with a range of malicious software, such as viruses and Trojans and badgered into purchasing the fake antivirus software to resolve the non-existent problem at a cost of up to $129.  An estimated 960,000 users were victimized by this scareware scheme, leading to $71 million in actual losses.

According to Sallnert’s plea agreement, he agreed to establish and operate credit card payment processing services for the scareware ring, knowing that his co-conspirators were intentionally causing fake and fraudulent messages to display on victims’ computers that would fraudulently induce the victims into purchasing the rogue security software.  According to court documents, between approximately August 2008 and October 2009, the payment processing mechanisms established by Sallnert processed approximately $5 million in credit card payments on behalf of the scheme.

This case is being investigated by the FBI Seattle Division Cyber Task Force and other FBI entities.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Carol Sipperly and Ethan Arenson of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Norman Barbosa and Kathryn Warma of the Western District of Washington.  Substantial assistance was provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs.

Critical assistance in the prosecution was provided by the Security Service of Ukraine, German Federal Criminal Police, Netherlands National High-Tech Crime Unit, London Metropolitan Police, Latvian State Police, Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau,  Swedish National Police Cyber Unit, French Police Judiciare, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Romania’s Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, Cyprus National Police in cooperation with the Unit for Combating Money Laundering and the Danish National Police.

To avoid falling victim to a scareware scheme, computer users should avoid purchasing computer security products that use unsolicited “free computer scans” to sell their products.  It is also important for users to protect their computers by maintaining an updated operating system and using legitimate, up-to-date antivirus software, which can detect and remove fraudulent scareware products.

Additional tips on how to spot a scareware scam include:
• Scareware advertising is difficult to dismiss.  Scareware purveyors employ aggressive techniques and badger users with pop-up messages into purchasing their products.  These fake alerts are often difficult to close and quickly reappear.
• Fake anti-virus products are designed to appear legitimate and can use names such as Virus Shield, Antivirus or VirusRemover.  Only install software from trusted sources that you seek out.  Internet service providers often make name-brand anti-virus products available to their customers for free.
• Become familiar with the brand, look and functionality of the legitimate anti-virus software that is installed on your computer. This will assist you in identifying scareware.

Computer users who think they have been victimized by scareware should file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, www.ic3.gov.

Rescue Airmen support successful rocket launch

920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs

12/12/2012 - CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla.  -- Air Force Reserve combat-search-and-rescue Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., supported the successful classified launch of an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the U.S. military's X-37B orbital space plane, Dec. 11 at 1:03 p.m. from launch Complex 41 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Low Earth Orbit an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle also known as OTV is beginning its second flight following refurbishment. Between April and December 2010 on the inaugural OTV launch, the OTV spent 224 days, 9 hours and 24 minutes in orbit.

A second OTV mission spent 468 days, 13 hours and 2 minutes on a voyage from March 2011 to this past June that circled the earth more than 7,000 times.

A combined team of military, government civilians and contractors from Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., and Cape Canaveral AFS provided vital support to this third OTV mission, including weather forecasts, launch and range operations, security, safety and public affairs.

Brig. Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, 45th Space Wing, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority, said this was a very historic and important launch for the Air Force and the entire team should be commended for their first-rate, professional work that ensured another successful mission.

"We are indeed fortunate to have a very talented "launch team" that works so well together," Cotton said.

"The teamwork across Air Force Space Command and with our 'Team Patrick / Cape' mission partners made this launch a success and is another example of how our Air Force delivers assured space launch, range and combat capabilities for the nation," he added.

The X-37B provides a flexible "on-orbit laboratory" test environment to prove new technology and components in space, before those technologies are committed to operational satellite programs. Technologies on the vehicle are expected to make access to space more responsive and conducting experiments in space more affordable.

Upon command from the ground, the OTV autonomously re-enters the atmosphere, descends and lands horizontally on a runway located on Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

Rescue Wing Airmen who pilot the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter take to flight several hours before all scheduled launches from Cape Canaveral AFS to secure the Eastern Range. They patrol the stretch of the Atlantic Ocean beneath the launch trajectory ensuring no mariners veer into harm's way of potential rocket debris hazards.

Range clearing is one of the many tasks that the Airmen of the 920th RQW are charged with. The premier combat-search-and-rescue wing Airmen are trained to provide search and rescue services in humanitarian and combat environments.

45th Space Wing Launches Atlas V Carrying 3rd X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle

Release Number: 011212

12/11/2012 - CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla -- The 45th Space Wing successfully launched an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, built by United Launch Alliance, at 1:03 p.m. EST today from Space Launch Complex 41 here. The rocket launched in the 501 vehicle configuration with a five-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

The Atlas V rocket carried into Low Earth Orbit an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), which is beginning its second flight following refurbishment, which spent 224 days, 9 hours and 24 minutes in orbit between April and December 2010 on the inaugural OTV launch.

A second OTV mission spent 468 days, 13 hours and 2 minutes on a voyage from March 2011 to this past June that circled the earth more than 7,000 times.

A combined team of military, government civilians and contractors from across the 45th Space Wing provided vital support to this third OTV mission, including weather forecasts, launch and range operations, security, safety and public affairs.

The wing also provided its vast network of radar, telemetry, optical and communications instrumentation to facilitate a safe launch on the Eastern Range.

Brig. Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, 45th Space Wing, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority, said this was a very historic and important launch for the Air Force and the entire team should be commended for their first-rate, professional work that ensured another successful mission.

"We are indeed fortunate to have a very talented "launch team" that works so well together," said Gen. Cotton.

"The teamwork across Air Force Space Command and with our "Team Patrick / Cape" mission partners made this launch a success and is another example of how our Air Force delivers assured space launch, range and combat capabilities for the nation," he added.

The X-37B provides a flexible "on-orbit laboratory" test environment to prove new technology and components in space, before those technologies are committed to operational satellite programs. Technologies on the vehicle are expected to make access to space more responsive and conducting experiments in space more affordable.

Upon command from the ground, the OTV autonomously re-enters the atmosphere, descends and lands horizontally on a runway located on Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

ECBC Scientists Develop CREATIVE Model for Decontaminant Research

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – The development of an innovative physics-based model to support research and testing of decontamination technologies is the first-of-its-kind to come to fruition at the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC).

CREATIVE (Contact hazard Residual hazard Efficacy Agent T&E Integrated Variable Environment) is a predictive decontamination system performance model (SPM) being developed to supplement and support existing decontamination evaluations in the laboratory, as well as during developmental and operational testing. The model is envisioned to be used to predict post-decontamination hazards before developmental and operational testing, or full scale testing of military equipment, takes place.

“We have successfully completed researching of a first generation model of CREATIVE which addresses contamination, decontamination and post-decontamination hazards of materials at the laboratory testing level,” said Brent Mantooth, Ph.D., a research scientist with ECBC’s decontamination sciences branch. “Right now, this innovative prediction model is focused on predicting what will happen at laboratory scale testing so that we can work towards predicting what would occur at full-scale testing.”

“With the model, we will eventually be able to take data and test results from laboratory testing and calculate post-decontamination hazards before the start of any full scale testing,” said Mantooth. “These calculations will produce all the information needed to determine if an equipment item undergoing full scale testing will be decontaminated to a level that is protective of the health and safety of the unprotected individual.”

According to Mantooth, the model will have clear advantages over the way decontamination technologies are researched and evaluated today. The model will shorten the development timeline for decontamination technology by helping to understand the performance of decontaminants. In addition, the model will help support full-scale testing during developmental and operational testing, and get a decontamination technology into the hands of the warfighter more quickly. As a result, testing conditions that are seen as too expensive or otherwise prohibitive can be reliably simulated.

Current decontamination technologies are tested in the lab using small samples of materials called panels that represent materials found on military equipment.  Examples of these materials include glass, tire rubber, plastics and various paints such as Chemical Agent Resistant Coatings. These evaluations require a substantial amount of analysis including three types of tests in which multiple agents are tested on eight types of materials along with appropriate control groups. Technology evaluations could require up to 2,400 samples, and up to 7,200 if the recommendation to conduct the evaluation at three different temperatures is included. 

“It is not practical to conduct testing at this scale.” Mantooth said. “This is where a physics-based model excels.

“There is an expressed need to develop a predictive model to support, supplement, and enhance our decontamination research and testing efforts. And we needed to bridge the gap with a predictive model that could be used between individual material testing in the laboratory and developmental and operational testing.”

The gap was bridged with the completion of multiple projects, including Development of the 2007 Chemical Decontaminant Source Document, the Small-Item Vapor Test Methods, the Vapor Composite System Calculation, and the Development of Complex Panel Methods.

The studies illustrated that in order to make a predictive model, mass transport first had to be considered. Mass transport is the movement of agent and a decontaminant into, within and out of a contaminated item. It is a complex, interacting system with many simultaneous dynamic processes, which include the agent, the material contaminated, how long the item was contaminated, migration of the agent into and out an item after absorption, the decontaminant used and elements of the surrounding environment, such as, air flow and temperature.

“By considering mass transport we can now recognize that decontamination is a complex, interactive system with many ongoing processes,” Mantooth said.

 Mantooth explained a physics-based model enables researchers to understand the reasons for seeing the results observed in the laboratory. By simulating the physics and chemistry that occurs, there is a better understanding of what decontaminants are doing well and where improvement can be made.

To develop CREATIVE, the decontamination services branch modeling team used a mathematical technique called inverse analysis. This technique provided them the means in which to determine the physics-based parameters that could not be directly measured.

 “The development of these techniques was vital to the development of the system performance model,” said Mantooth. “Now that we have the model parameters, we can simulate many of the what-if questions that were not practical to test at the full scale level, as well as identify which tests to conduct at that level.”

The model enables the simulation of many conditions with results that would indicate what vapor and contact hazards there may be to unprotected personnel in a variety of items. The results of these simulations will also indicate the need to consider many new aspects of when and how decontaminants are used and how they are to mitigate hazards.

Because of the complexity of conducting evaluations on decontamination technologies, Mantooth’s modeling team is currently working on a second generation model. This model will address evaluating multiple materials at the same time, along with other chemical agents and more complicated systems with the goal of being able to support and supplement evaluations at the full scale level in the future.

“The development of the CREATIVE model cannot be understated,” Mantooth said.  “We will now be able to conduct future research, development and testing of decontamination technologies more quickly and at a reduced cost while getting it into the hands of the warfighter faster.”

For more information about ECBC, visit http://www.ecbc.army.mil/.

ECBC is the Army’s principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and field operations. ECBC has achieved major technological advances for the warfighter and for our national defense, with a long and distinguished history of providing the Armed Forces with quality systems and outstanding customer service. ECBC is a U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command laboratory located at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. For more information about the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, please visit our website at http://www.ecbc.army.mil or call (410) 436-7118.

McConnell earns two energy awards

by Airman 1st Class Victor J. Caputo
22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

12/10/2012 - MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- Air Mobility Command announced Tuesday that McConnell won third place in the 2012 AMC Energy Incentive Awards. In addition, Rex Bluml, 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron chief asset manager, won second place on the individual level.

Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., and Travis AFB, Calif., came in first and second place, respectively.

The competition was meant to find and recognize the top people and bases in energy conservation and innovation.

"Renewable energy is always something we're interested in," said Maj. Robert Liu, 22nd CES acting commander. "Here in [the 22nd CES] compound, we're always experimenting to see if projects are feasible and will work out for us."

McConnell made strides in conserving water through leak detection and solar-powered ground water cleaning, trained 150 facility managers on the energy policy and won the Kansas Water Environment Association 2011 Gold Award for industrial water and wastewater operations.

"There are a lot of projects we've done," said Liu. "There are the direct digital controls we installed for air conditioning units on base, we're working on a smart metering project and the new digital thermometers in some buildings."

Bluml was also honored for being the "man behind-the-scenes" for many of the base's achievements throughout the year.

"We haven't had an actual dedicated energy manager in two years," said Bluml. "Myself and my supervisor fill in the role as best we can, so to have a program that is so robust that we're still able to garner an award says a lot about what we do here and how seriously we take energy."

Bluml managed the purchase of the water leak detector, which saved the base 3.6 million gallons of water, and trained the dozens of facility managers on the energy policy. He also spearheaded an in-house development of energy programs, saving McConnell thousands of dollars.

He emphasized that it was a team effort, instead of one individual's work, to accomplish everything that the base was recognized for.

"I've got a great group of people here to work with," said Bluml. "It's never about what one person's going to do; no one person will ever have all the answers. Having a team of people to collaborate with and come up with ideas is really the key to success."

The biggest energy project that the 22nd CES is working on involves an increase in wind power to the base.

A single wind turbine was installed outside of the 22nd CES utility shop in May 2012, to test the efficiency of the unit's powering capabilities. The success of the turbine has led the squadron to develop a plan to install several more on base.

"If those sites become feasible and we are able to get the wing generators installed on them," said Bluml, "that would be the largest-impact project that we will have done."

Awards such as the Energy Incentive Award motivate the Airmen on base to work hard and accomplish the mission. The 22nd CES will continue to work on making McConnell a more energy-efficient base, with demolition consolidation and reducing the carbon footprint on base are two of the major goals of the squadron over the next two years, said Liu.

NTSB, AFSEC explore safety management system

by Darlene Y. Cowsert
Air Force Safety Center Public Affairs

12/6/2012 - KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M.  -- National Transportation Safety Board Member Robert L. Sumwalt visited the Air Force Safety Center here on Nov. 27 to explain his perspective on the safety management system (SMS), and discuss its application and implementation. The visit came at the invitation of the center's SMS development team that's researching best practices to guide implementation across the Department of Defense. The Air Force is the lead service for that implementation effort.

Sumwalt explained the four components of SMS - written policies, procedures and guidelines; data collection and analysis; risk management and safety culture.

"SMS is a business approach to managing safety," he said. "That structure allows an organization to manage safety just as it does every other vital function of an organization."

In the last six years, Sumwalt has served as the member on scene for 11 NTSB investigations of major transportation accidents. According to Sumwalt, the NTSB investigations most often reveal that the impacted organizations didn't have adequate written policies, procedures and guidelines or didn't rigorously adhere to the ones they had.

Sumwalt directs much of his energy toward top-level organizational leaders to advocate for a strong safety culture.

"A safety culture is the fabric of an organization," he said. A safety culture begins at the top, permeates throughout an organization and emphasizes safety over competing goals, he added.

Sumwalt emphasized that a safety culture is more of a journey than a destination and warned that some organizations become complacent when they think they have a proper safety culture. He also explained the role of trust in creating a "just culture" as an enabler of proactive safety programs such as Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance, Aviation Safety Action Program and Line of Operations Safety Audit.

A roundtable discussion among Sumwalt and the center's division representatives highlighted topics of mutual interest to the safety center and the NTSB. Among those were applying the NTSB's SMS aviation model to all safety disciplines, standardization of terminology, using SMS to transform safety increasingly toward proactive processes and how to measure safety successes in order to repeat them.

"Member Sumwalt hit squarely on issues of particular interest to us - fostering a safety culture, risk management processes and implementation of SMS," said AFSEC Executive Director James Rubeor. "While Air Force safety and the NTSB have similar processes, it's always healthy to look at how other agencies are meeting new challenges and to explore their paths to overcome those challenges."

Ribbon-cutting marks first milestone for new mission-critical capability at AEDC's large military engine test facility

by Philip Lorenz III
Arnold Engineering Development Complex Public Affairs

11/30/2012 - ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- A ribbon-cutting celebrating the success of a $3.6 million investment project to modernize and expand the capabilities of the nation's largest military aircraft engine ground test facility, located at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, was held Nov. 19, 2012.

"This is the first of the Advanced Large Military Engine Capability program projects to be completed," Rosemary Matty, AEDC's program manager for ALMEC, said. "The success of this project required many organizations across the base to pull together as a team."

Britt Covington, AEDC executive director, agreed with Matty's characterization of the collaborative nature of the project.

"Congratulations to the team -- the team obviously goes beyond just the folks who got the plaque here today -- I mean all 120 people who are involved in this project," he said. "This is the first of nine projects related to improving and modernizing this Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility and the test cells that it supports. I applaud each of you for your contribution to this effort, which -- at $3.6 million -- is a pretty big project."

Matty said to fully appreciate this milestone it helps to understand the scope of the whole program.

"ALMEC will improve and modernize key Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility mechanical and electrical controls, facility monitoring systems, process air distribution and exhaust inter-cooling systems," she said. "This ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the first leg of a multi-year Test Investment Planning and Programming effort that began in fiscal 2011 with a planned completion date set for fiscal 2017.

"The C1/C2 Temperature-controlled Cell Cooling project is the first effort to be completed under ALMEC and it adds critical test cell cooling capability to the large turbine engine altitude test cells during near sea level testing conditions."

According to ATA design engineer Phillip Krepp, the new C1 and C2 cell cooling system was based on successful design of AEDC's existing J1 and J2 test cell cooling system.

He said their team realized that retrofitting the C1 and C2 cell cooling system based on the J test cells' cooling system resulted in lower operating costs and satisfied capability requirements for a broader range of simulated flight conditions without sacrificing data quality.

"C1 and C2 test cells require cell cooling to protect instrumentation while conducting engine tests," he said. "The previous cell cooling system used either atmospheric in-bleed or the same air supply being provided to the test engine. This doesn't allow the customer the ability to set cell cooling temperatures.

"AEDC now has the capability to set true NSLT conditions in engine test cells C1 and C2 without running additional expensive exhauster equipment, resulting in reduced operating costs and increased plant efficiencies."