It has been almost 10 years since Gene Hackman and Will Smith starred in the Internet hacker technology flick, "Enemy of The State." The movie portrayed Smith as an unassuming father who is caught up accidentally in a national security hotspot. Smith and Hackman, who plays a former National Security Agency wiz, work to divert the highly sophisticated techies from capturing the data. The movie highlights how technology and especially electronic commerce with computers has created a world where identity theft and accessing personal data are commonplace.

Now in 2008, the FBI has established marketplaces for such crooks, who steal people's credit card and social security numbers to create accounts and siphon funds. According to "The Threat Level," a blog from Wired.com, the FBI had an operation set up in Pittsburgh that recently closed. The site reports: "DarkMarket.ws, an online watering hole for thousands of identify thieves, hackers and credit card swindlers, has been secretly run by an FBI cybercrime agent for the last two years, until its voluntary shutdown earlier this month." Such an elaborate system shows the real sophistication and prevalence of Internet hackers.

Computers typically become compromised and turned into a bot, also called a zombie, after visiting a malicious Web site or opening an infected e-mail message or attachment. Wendi Whitmore, a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, gave a special presentation on botnets. "Today, most botnets are controlled using Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, servers and channels. Soon that could become instant messaging, peer-to-peer technology or protocols used by Internet phone services such as Skype or Vonage," Whitmore said.

"DarkMarket lets buyers and sellers of stolen identities and credit card data meet and do business, in an entrepreneurial, peer-reviewed environment. Products for sale run the gamut from specialized hardware, to electronic banking logins collected from phishing attacks, stolen personal data needed to assume a consumer's identity (‘full infos') and credit card magstripe swipes (‘dumps'), which are used to produce counterfeit cards. Vendors are encouraged to submit their goods for review before offering them for sale," according to this blog report.

I received a call this past Sunday from a friend in our nation's capital. He told me the sordid story of how someone in California hacked into his computer using the virus "Backdoor Graybird." Symantec, a security software company, describes the virus as "a Trojan horse program that hides its presence on the compromised computer and downloads remote files." In my friend's case, the virus allowed his alleged attacker to access his Pay Pal account remotely. This means my friend, who we'll call Donald, had someone reading his login and password as he entered it. Then the perpetrator logs in remotely with the newly accessed information and sets up an ATM/Visa debit card.

The next e-mail Donald received had the following note,  "thanks for your purchase, I am sending your iphone to you immediately." The e-mail included all of the billing information for the $480 phone including a name, Todd D. Turpin, and shipping address of 18956 Sherman Way Unit 20 Reseda, CA 91335. Zillow, a search engine for home values, estimates this 3-bedroom condo is worth $275,500. This is not Compton, California. Reseda borders rich neighborhoods like Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

For Donald, the nightmare was not over. There were an additional $300 in charges for electronics. These were items he could not see on the invoice, but the same hacker-generated debit card was used to purchase the items. The next twist to the story came as no surprise, but gives some insight into the magnitude and scope of such a criminal endeavor. The next charge on the card was to a U-Haul storage unit. The $100 charge, according to Donald's records, kept dropping until the final amount of $10 went through. The question Donald rightly brought up was, "I wonder what else is in that storage unit, probably a ton of stolen items." The U-Haul storage unit is in Northridge, just three miles from the address listed in Reseda. That unit is associated with the Todd Turpin name and Reseda address.

Now the final chapter, is Donald's computer cannot even reach the start menu. The virus has consumed the Window's program and has disabled the operating system. All told, $800 in false charges actually withdrawn from his bank account, a dead computer and a major hassle. Ironically, the very programs that would solve the virus require you to use a credit card online for bill processing. Not such a good idea after Donald's experience.

To start, Donald did call the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and filled out a form with all the information regarding the alleged perpetrator in this case. Donald is doubtful on a resolution. He says the authorities do not fully investigate each case. The next several calls were to the merchants who are still recovering his money.

So what can one do in this situation?

Keeping one's computer firewall up and having an anti-virus system with automatic alerts are two industry suggestions. It is important to realize hackers are brazen and ready to strike in any environment, ATM, computer and remotely; nationally and internationally.  Therefore it's important to check balances regularly, recognizing the possibility that something like Donald's situation could happen at any time.

The FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, has attempted to deal with the sophistication of computer and IT experts in the cyberworld.  According to the FBI website, Operation Web Snare was an initiative designed to take a closer look at cybercrimes. The results were staggering, especially the incidents vs. arrests, according to the FBI. "Operation Web Snare includes more than 150 investigations, in which more than 870,000 victims lost more than $210 million. Through these investigations more than 300 subjects were targeted, resulting in 100 arrests/convictions, 116 indictments, and the execution of more than 130 search/seizure warrants."

Black Hat is a worldwide conference on technical security. Their annual conferences bring the best industry experts, including representatives from Microsoft and Apple. Everyone wants a system that is virus-free and Microsoft focused its efforts on the Malicious Software Removal Tool, designed to automatically detect and remove the viruses that are common with credit and ATM card fraud.

Although significant in number, these investigations represent only a fraction of the cybercrime problem, underscoring not only the need for sustained law enforcement focus, but the continuing development of expanded industry partnerships as well.

In Reseda, a cyber criminal looms. The local police and FBI offices now have a lead. Hopefully, they'll follow up and investigate the suspect(s) involved.