http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/18/max_butler_affidavit/ By Dan Goodin in San Francisco 18th September 2007 Having already done time in prison, Max Butler - aka Max Vision - went to great extremes to cloak his new and allegedly-illegal activities from prying eyes. But court documents filed in a case charging him with five new counts of fraud suggest that despite the care he took, much of his undoing came at his own hands - and the hands of associates he trusted the most. The hacker, who in 2001 pleaded guilty to unleashing a worm that accessed computers at a US Air Force base, employed a "killswitch" on his PC that allowed him to destroy incriminating data at a moment's notice, according to an affidavit. "If Butler is within reach of his computer, he needs only 'two keystrokes' to destroy the evidence on the computer," Christopher Aragon, an associate of Butler's who was arrested in May for identity theft, told investigators. The San Francisco native also kept two residences. One was allegedly reserved for conducting illegal hacking, such as breaking into data processing centers and financial institutions. It was rented under a false name - in at least one case "Daniel Chance" - and paid in advance by a money order signed by a person who worked for Butler. And he maintained at least four online identities, including Iceman, Aphex, Digits and Darkest. While he allegedly used some of the handles to openly engage in the trafficking of stolen credit cards, he worked hard to keep a clean reputation for Iceman. He used the ID in public forums on Cardersmarket, a website he allegedly operated that offered information and discussions concerning various forms on online fraud. Follow the Credit For a while, the secrecy worked well. Butler, according to court documents, would largely work in obscurity as he used large antennas to pull sensitive data transmitted over Wi-Fi networks. By limiting what associates and outsiders knew about him and his activities, he made it hard for authorities to build a case against him. Then, though a combination of bad luck and poor judgment, Butler's enterprise began to unravel. In May, Aragon was arrested in New Port Beach, California for allegedly using counterfeit American Express gift cards to buy about $13,000 worth of designer purses in a single day. He is awaiting trial. This was a problem for Butler, according to court documents, because Aragon was one of the people who bought credit card numbers Butler obtained. "Aragon's group would manufacture or re-encode credit cards with the stolen credit card information and have his 'crew' use those cards to make in-store purchases," the 28-page affidavit alleges. Much of the merchandise was then sold on eBay by an user who went under the name "Stylish_shelly." Following the arrest, Butler went so far as to flee San Francisco for Vancouver and discard a cell phone that linked him to Aragon. But according to the affidavit, Butler made some crucial mistakes. For one, he used a prepaid credit card that had been purchased by Aragon during his stint in Vancouver. And a few days later, he used it to buy a new phone. Less Than Confidential Informant An even bigger mistake, according to the documents, was Butler's misplaced trust in several unnamed associates. According to chat logs supplied by a source identified only as "Confidential Informant #2", Butler - using one of his anonymous online personae - "recounted that he threw away his cell phone, among other things, to distance himself from Aragon following Aragon's arrest." Butler passed plenty of other incriminating comments to CI#2. "So obviously I am digits also," he told the informant during one online chat in which Butler used his Iceman identity. "It is a pain in the ass trying to keep that separate from people i know an [sic] trust and like such as yourself. Anyway reasoning is, iceman is legal. digits is breaking the law. i assumed if i could keep it separate there would be no legal leg to stand on for coming after 'me' as the forum admin." By early June, agents from the US Secret Service's San Francisco field office had begun surveillance of a house where Butler and his longtime girlfriend lived. Over the next two months, agents continued to trail him in cars, lobbies and elevators until finally they were able to confirm the location of the apartment he used for hacking. Butler seemed to know something was going wrong. He cut the long, brown pony tail that had been a prominent part of his physical appearance for years. And he began phasing out many of his aliases, including Iceman and Digits. He also recruited new individuals for various roles within Cardersmarket. Despite this, he continued to use the Aphex ID in forums to discuss various topics related to credit card fraud. In a posting dated August 16, for instance, he wrote about the use of "skimmers," which are used to read and record credit card information. A few days earlier, Aphex had warned users against a former member named Zebra, who was now said to be a confidential informant." Perhaps Butler's biggest undoing was his continued confidence in CI#2, which continued until August 30. King of the Carders Authorities' account of Butler fleshes out a dichotomy between ultra-secretive paranoia and a careless brazenness that in many ways mirrors the carder culture Butler sought to lead. Last week, just two days after the unsealing of Butler's indictment, carder boards were buzzing with comments warning people to be careful and accusing certain members of snitching. "So for all members of [Cardersmarket] if u wish to run to CM and delet ur PMs, ... they are gone, AND I AM 100% SURE A BACK UP COPY WAS ALLREADY MADE BY the 2 admins of CM," a user going by the name Achilous wrote in a forum hosted by Cardingzone.org. "Will not say names because i don't like acusing people." The screed, with its poor spelling and grammar, came just hours after private messages and the vast majority of the site, were taken offline. And yet the steady stream of postings on other carder sites advertising the sale of stolen credit cards has barely let up since word last week that Butler was arrested. For instance, at time of writing, the credit card forum on real-forum.net was filed with fresh postings advertising stolen numbers for between $3 and $9 apiece. "The worry, it seems, is just more of a hassle factor worry that they'll have to move their message board forum," said Dan Clements, president of CardCops, a division of the Affinion Group that monitors online forums for stolen credit card information. "This is a global problem that will take global solutions. I don't really see people worrying about getting busted." Please direct any news tips, inside scuttlebutt or other security-related intelligence to this reporter by using this link [1]. Confidentiality assured. [1] http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2007/09/18/max_butler_affidavit/ __________________________________________________________________ CSI 2007 is the only conference that delivers a business-focused overview of enterprise security. It will convene 1,500+ delegates, 80 exhibitors and features 100+ sessions/seminars providing a roadmap for integrating policies and procedures with new tools and techniques. 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