Scranton Company in the Middle of Cyber-Crime Investigation
By: Eric Deabill
Updated: March 27, 2012
A Scranton company has found itself in the middle of a national cyber-crime investigation.
Officials from Microsoft, along with the U.S. Marshals, visited BurstNET Technologies in Scranton's Hill Section late last week.
BurstNET Technologies has been around for more than a decade but many people don't even know about its existance.
Microsoft officials came to the company, located on Prescott Avenue, unannounced last Friday after discovering the company was unknowingly hosting a server for a vicious form of computer malware.
"These guys, they're pretty smart unfortunately. They typically will try to fly under the radar, not draw attention to themselves," Joe Marr said.
Marr is the Chief Technology Officer at BurstNET, which as a data center provides internet services for companies worldwide.
BurstNET isn't accused of any wrongdoing. They just unknowingly housed the server that had a viciuos strain of malware, which could be used to steal people's bank account information and passwords.
"For every 1,000 customers that are well-intentioned, there's always one or two customers that are trying to make a quick buck," Marr said.
Computer experts say this type of malware could infect millions of computers, spreading through fake e-mails that look legit. Many people say they've gotten one.
"It's just annoying when they pop up, I just want to delete them. I want to throw my computer," Jazmine Berger said.
"It's annoying to me especially because I'm technologically-challenged. I can't use the internet, computers, phones, nothing," Morgan Dais of Scranton said.
BurstNET has 7,000 servers at its Scranton location and officials say they routinely look for problems. They say it is not unusual for them to work with law enforcement or the FBI to stop cyber crooks.
"You really can't predict intent unfortunately. If somebody is looking to cause harm, technology isn't there for that to be predicted," Marr said.
Microsoft featured their visit to Scranton last Friday on its website.
For more information, visit, http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/dcu/videogallery.aspx?contentID=033512_MS_DCU_Zeusspokesman
A similiar raid also took place in Illinois and Microsoft officials say they hope it disrupted the cyber criminals and will help them gain insight into their operations.
Officials from Microsoft, along with the U.S. Marshals, visited BurstNET Technologies in Scranton's Hill Section late last week.
BurstNET Technologies has been around for more than a decade but many people don't even know about its existance.
Microsoft officials came to the company, located on Prescott Avenue, unannounced last Friday after discovering the company was unknowingly hosting a server for a vicious form of computer malware.
"These guys, they're pretty smart unfortunately. They typically will try to fly under the radar, not draw attention to themselves," Joe Marr said.
Marr is the Chief Technology Officer at BurstNET, which as a data center provides internet services for companies worldwide.
BurstNET isn't accused of any wrongdoing. They just unknowingly housed the server that had a viciuos strain of malware, which could be used to steal people's bank account information and passwords.
"For every 1,000 customers that are well-intentioned, there's always one or two customers that are trying to make a quick buck," Marr said.
Computer experts say this type of malware could infect millions of computers, spreading through fake e-mails that look legit. Many people say they've gotten one.
"It's just annoying when they pop up, I just want to delete them. I want to throw my computer," Jazmine Berger said.
"It's annoying to me especially because I'm technologically-challenged. I can't use the internet, computers, phones, nothing," Morgan Dais of Scranton said.
BurstNET has 7,000 servers at its Scranton location and officials say they routinely look for problems. They say it is not unusual for them to work with law enforcement or the FBI to stop cyber crooks.
"You really can't predict intent unfortunately. If somebody is looking to cause harm, technology isn't there for that to be predicted," Marr said.
Microsoft featured their visit to Scranton last Friday on its website.
For more information, visit, http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/dcu/videogallery.aspx?contentID=033512_MS_DCU_Zeusspokesman
A similiar raid also took place in Illinois and Microsoft officials say they hope it disrupted the cyber criminals and will help them gain insight into their operations.
