Ashcroft Targets U.S. Cybercrime

[John Young]

Why bust Dmitry and not the head of  ElcomSoft if the
primary crime is commercial gain? That he is claimed
to be the copyright holder is thin stuff, for that does not
support his being the main commercial beneficiary (unless 
the FBI has evidence that was not revealed about Elcomsoft's
internal finances).

To be sure some of the officers of ElcomSoft have ties
to the KGB and the FBI and the CIA are customers of the
firm, as likely are other countries' TLAs.

That Dmitry was busted has a stench of scapegoatism,
and ElcomSoft may not be altogether innocent, not least
for sending Dmitry into the lion's den.

Read the statements made by ElcomSoft officers carefully
about prior appearances at conferences outside of Russia.
Protestations claiming the officers had no idea a bust was
in the offing are a bit much.

It may well be that the Dmitry bust is a ploy whose purpose
will be revealed later as we learn more about cooperation
among the globe's law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Would ElcomSoft shop Dmitry for closer ties with USG
customers with fat budgets for fighting cybercrime? Perhaps
not with initial intent to do so but could very well do so in
order to close a deal and better deals to come.

Ashcroft's talk about the new cybercrime initiative, and the
new incoming FBI director's career advancement due to
that cause, seems to point to somebody like Dmitry being 
busted at about the time he was -- if not him then another
Defcon target. Who else was being similarly, is being, 
investigated will no doubt be announced as the new FBI's 
chief's approval by Congress works its way through the 
FBI-credibility-restoration mill.