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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 227

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L.A. man admits massive Internet scheme to steal bank info

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

In the first prosecution of its kind in the nation, a well-known member of the “botnet underground” has been charged with using “botnets” — armies of compromised computers — to steal the identities of victims across the country by extracting information from their personal computers and wiretapping their communications.

The individual, John Schiefer, 26, of Los Angeles, California, has agreed to plead guilty to four felony counts: accessing protected computers to conduct fraud, disclosing illegally intercepted electronic communications, wire fraud and bank fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the same city.

Lawyers for the government filed the criminal information and plea agreement last week in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles outlining a series of schemes in which Schiefer and several associates developed malicious computer code and distributed that code to vulnerable computers. Schiefer and the others used the illicitly installed code to assemble armies of up to 250,000 infected computers, which they used to engage in a variety of identity theft schemes. Schiefer also used the compromised computers to defraud a Dutch advertising company, according to the plea agreement.

In his plea agreement, Schiefer acknowledged installing malicious computer code, or “malware,” that acted as a wiretap on compromised computers. Because the users of those compromised computers were unaware that their computers had been turned into zombies, they continued to use their computers to engage in commercial activities.

Schiefer used the malware, which he called a “spybot,” to intercept electronic communications being sent over the Internet from those zombie computers to Pay Pal and other Web sites. Once in possession of those intercepted communications, Schiefer and the others sifted through the data to mine usernames and passwords.

With Pay Pal usernames and passwords, Schiefer and the others accessed bank accounts to make purchases without the consent of the true owners. Schiefer also acknowledged in the plea agreement that he transferred both the wiretapped communications and the stolen Pay Pal information to others. It is the first time in the nation that someone has been charged under the federal wiretap statute for conduct related to botnets.

In another scheme, Schiefer installed malware on zombie computers running Microsoft operating systems, causing them to disgorge usernames and passwords from a secure storage area known as the PStore. Schiefer and his co-schemers caused the zombie computers to send that account access information to computers that Schiefer and his co-schemers controlled. Once again, Schiefer located Pay Pal usernames and passwords among this data and used that authentication information to access victim bank accounts.

Finally, Schiefer acknowledged defrauding an Internet advertising company with his botnets. Schiefer signed up as a consultant with a Dutch Internet advertising company and promised to install the company’s programs on computers only when the owners gave consent.

Instead, Schiefer and two co-schemers installed that program on approximately 150,000 computers that were infected with their malware. To avoid detection by the advertising company, Schiefer instructed his associates to moderate the number of installations so it appeared that the installations were legitimate and not the result of a malicious computer program that was propagating itself. Schiefer was ultimately paid more than $19,128.35 by the advertising company.

Schiefer has agreed to make an initial appearance in Los Angeles Nov. 28. Once he pleads guilty to the four counts, Schiefer will face a statutory maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison and a fine of $1.75 million.

Major quake at 7.7 magnitude kills at least two in Chile

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Authorities in Chile say at least two people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a powerful earthquake struck in the north, sending terrified residents into the streets and cutting power to some of the country's copper mines.

Officials said two women were killed Wednesday when their houses in the town of Tocopilla collapsed during the 7.7 magnitude earthquake. They also said another person may have died in a tunnel collapse there.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered west of the town of Calama. It was felt as far away as the

Chilean capital, Santiago, and neighboring Peru and Bolivia.

Television images showed cars crushed under the concrete awning of a hotel in Antofagasta, 170 kms (105 miles) south of the epicenter.

The quake was followed by six aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 5.7. Additionally, the quake triggered a tsunami warning which was later lifted.

In August, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck Peru, killing about 540 people and injuring more than 1,000 others. The southern port city of Pisco was one of the areas devastated by the powerful quake, which lasted two minutes.

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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 227

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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 227

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Contemporary dance festival here will promote experimentation

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Ballet-dancers may despise it, disco-lovers may be baffled by it, but contemporary dance has been a firm part of the theatrical agenda in San José for almost 25 years, and the finalists for this year's weekend dedicated to the art have now been announced.

Ten Costa Rican acts have been chosen by a national board of judges for the XXIV Festival de Coreografos “Graciela Morena,” to take place in the Teatro Nacional from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2.

Contemporary dance is known for its mixing of genres, its ability to incorporate any kind of music no matter how obscure and the fluid body movements that dancers developed in rejection of ballet's strict forms.

According to the judges who picked this year's competitors, the festival was born through the need for an "open space for experimentation, investigation and the search for new languages of dance."

Last year's winners, Henrietta Borbon, Luis Piedra, Andrea Catania and Rogelio Lopez, will open the festival Nov. 29 to warm up the stage for their successors.

Three to four acts will take to the stage on each night of the festival, presenting colorful, original compositions of up to 30 minutes in length.

For the first time, international judges from México, Spain and the United States will make up the panel in front of which the dancers will perform in the hopes that they will be pronounced winner at the end of the weekend.

One of the competitors, Nandayure Harley, who will present his composition "Mil Kilometros" Dec. 2, sasid this new dimension will give an opportunity to situate Costa Rican dance in an international context.

The festival will also include a homage to the dancer and choreographer Cristina Gigirey, who died last year on Dec. 5, and was considered one of the pioneers of Costa Rican contemporary dance.

Try an unexpected move to always keep them guessing

This topic originated from an interesting post in the forum section of my Web site: www.fullcontactpoker.com.

There was a long discussion about one particular hand that a supposedly solid player had been in. Several posters suggested that this hotshot player made a critical error that had to be a losing play in the long run. They saw this apparent lapse of judgment, on one isolated hand, as proof that he simply wasn’t the strong player he was purported to be.

My response was somewhat controversial. I wrote something like, “If you never attempt non-fundamental plays --— plays that might be considered ill-advised in the short-run --— you’ll actually limit the amount you can win at poker.”

It’s obvious that every player makes mistakes. Sometimes, though, what seems to be a mistake is really just a marginal play. Here’s the thing: These plays can actually yield more profit in the long-run than a textbook move.

And that’s especially true when these moves are intentionally designed to deceive opponents who wrongly assume that your play is easy to predict.

You see, every poker decision can be broken down into two categories: those with positive expected value and those with negative expected value. A play that has positive EV is one that will make you money in the long-run. The opposite occurs with negative EV. These plays will ultimately cost you chips.

There’s a wrinkle, however. Sometimes a play that appears to have negative EV on paper, when used sporadically, can actually deliver positive EV. That can only happen, however, if you own an unpredictable table image and can cause your opponents to misjudge your skill level.

It’s important to note that attempting a controversial negative EV play will likely be effective only in higher-limit games. That’s where you’ll find skilled players who pay close attention to betting patterns, take notes on their opponents, and have a solid understanding of fundamental poker strategy. In these games, there’s a real opportunity to win by using deception.

On the other hand, if you’re playing in a low-limit game with novice players, avoid negative EV plays altogether. Instead, profit from your opponents’ inevitable fundamental mistakes -— mistakes that skilled high-limit players rarely make.

Here’s a hand that illustrates why it’s so problematic to be

perceived as a predictable player who always seems to play by the book.

In a big money short-handed no limit hold’em game, you raise to $600 with Kh-5h. The button re-raises to $2,100.

The textbook play would be to fold your hand. Advanced players understand positional disadvantage and wouldn’t attempt to play such a marginal hand out of position. Calling a raise with Kh-5h, hoping to catch a miracle on the flop, would be a long-term loser.

The problem is simple: On those occasions when you do call a raise, your opponents would be able to narrow down your range of hands. They’d sense that you wouldn’t call a raise unless you had some sort of strength. And because they would always retain position, they’d likely continue to re-raise to better define your hand.

But by occasionally calling with weaker hands and sometimes even re-raising, you would add valuable unpredictability to your game. It would become more difficult for opponents to get a read on your hand and could even translate into positive EV in future hands.

So, when you look at the Kh-5h example on its own, it’s clear that the play has negative short-term EV, but over the long-term, it can produce positive results.

Poker isn’t about one isolated hand. It’s a long-term game. If you face the same players every week, you’ll need to occasionally step over the line of fundamental play. That will surely keep your opponents guessing.

Visit www.cardsharkmedia.com/book.html for information about Daniel Negreanu’s new book, "Hold’em Wisdom for All Players."

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