Soviet Union Domain Becomes Hacker Haven

The online leak of US celebrities’ and government officials’ private financial details—including first lady Michelle Obama’s—has cast a fresh spotlight on .su, the Soviet Union’s old Internet domain suffix that security experts say has become a haven for cybercriminals two decades after the superpower’s collapse. “It has definitely become a popular domain for cybercriminals, and not just in Russia,” Hemanshu Nigam, a former Justice Department prosecutor who runs the online security advisory firm SSP Blue, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. The purportedly stolen information was first posted on a website with a .su suffix Monday and included alleged personal and financial details for 17 US celebrities and politicians as of Tuesday afternoon. In particular, the hackers posted Michelle Obama’s Social Security number, phone numbers, mortgage information and credit card details.

http://en.ria.ru/crime/20130313/179973098/Hackers-Go-Back-to-USSR-in-Financial-Leak-of-US-Celebrities.html