A hack attack?
A federal prosecutor involved in the case defended the FBI's actions.
"I wouldn't call it hacking," said Stephen Schroeder, assistant US attorney for the Western District of Washington in Seattle and the lead prosecutor in the case against Gorshkov. "The implications of hacking go far beyond what we did."
However, the law enforcement community commonly uses "hacking" to describe the illegal activity of breaking into a computer, usually with some degree of skill. While little skill is needed to type in usernames and passwords, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 treats the unauthorised access of computers as the same crime as breaking into a computer without using passwords.
In most cases, law enforcement officers are exempted from any sort of prosecution under the act if the questionable activity has been authorised as part of their investigation. Furthermore, the FBI can violate the law--similar to their ability to break the speed limit--and still have any resulting evidence be admissible in court.
Yet, the key question among attorneys is whether such a waiver exists for so-called remote cross-border searches of computer data. One thing is certain: Not having to gain permission from the country in which a server resides speeds the process, said Schroeder.
"Normally, to get evidence we go through diplomatic channels, in writing, with pretty seals, and then it percolates down to law enforcement," he said. "Six months later we get our evidence."
In this case, he said, six months would have been too late. Indeed, six days after Ivanov and Gorshkov were arrested, someone changed one of Ivanov's passwords, according to the court papers.
