FBI alleges pair stole credit info

Federal agents in Seattle have cracked a Russian computer-hacking ring that prosecutors say victimized dozens of e-commerce businesses in 10 states through extortion and the theft of thousands of credit-card numbers. Two young hackers have been arrested and indicted after the FBI set up a bogus Internet-security firm, aptly called "Invita," and let the men hack into it, authorities said. Then, they lured the men to the U.S. to apply for jobs. An amended 20-count indictment from a Seattle grand jury earlier this month identifies the men as 20-year-old Alexey Ivanov and Vasiliy Gorshkov, 25. Prosecutors say they may be linked to hundreds of crimes, including the highly publicized theft of 15,700 credit-card numbers from Western Union in Denver last September. A computer file discovered in an account registered to Ivanov allegedly contained another 38,000 credit-card numbers gleaned from an unnamed business, according to court documents. Agents suspect the men and associates still operating in Russia have been responsible for tens of thousands of suspicious probes and Internet intrusions into banks and other e-businesses, most often by hacking into a vulnerable version of Windows NT, the Microsoft business-systems platform. The problem escalated over the past year and became so serious that it prompted nationally circulated warnings from the Department of Justice's National Infrastructure Protection Center, in December and again just last month. "These guys aren't script-kiddies," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Schroeder, using a techie colloquialism for a novice hacker. "This is a pretty big deal."