Juvenile prank pulled on computer security crime fighters

A SILLY but defamatory prank was pulled on two well-respected figures in the world of computer security, known for their work in the battle against cyber criminals.

A person or persons unknown planted a fake story at Fraud-News.com, which accused F-Secure chief security researcher Mikko Hyponnen and well-known security journalist Brian Krebs of running an organised credit card counterfeiting ring.

The story is still up at the time of writing, and among other things accuses them of stealing more than 1.5 million account numbers and being in a romantic relationship.

The fake story reads, "Using legitimate companies to front with such as F-Secure and a blog called 'Krebsonsecurity' they are believed to have been operating for years disguised as security researchers."

"Investigators said they traced communications between Krebs - using the online screen name 'BlazinKrabz' - and Hypponen (Alias 'WhiteHippo') who authorities alleged were sending large payments to cyber crooks in Eastern Europe in exchange for tens of thousands of stolen credit card numbers."

In a blog post, Hyponnen found some humour in the situation, writing, "As a sidenote, the article also mentioned that we were lovers. Now, let me make it clear: Neither of these claims are true. I like Brian, but not like that."

He said that Krebs had an idea who wrote the article, which as generally happens spread on Twitter, with Hyponnen having had to face questions about whether he'd been indicted or not. µ