Russia Issues International Travel Advisory to Its Hackers

US-Russian relations are strained over revelations about US surveillance programs and Russia’s decision to provide temporary asylum to a former NSA contract worker who exposed details on US electronic spying capabilities. Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a public notice advising citizens against travel abroad, especially to countries with extradition agreements with the United States, reports Kevin Poulsen of Wired: “The notice was triggered in part by the June arrest of alleged Russian hacker Aleksander Panin, who’s charged in the U.S. with a $5 million online banking caper. Panin was picked up in the Dominican Republic on an Interpol Red Notice and shipped off to the U.S. in July. Russia said at the time the extradition was ‘vicious’, ‘inappropriate’ and ‘unacceptable.’” Poulson points to Russian hackers as a source of many internet crimes, including theft of thousands of credit-card numbers, creating fake online payment systems and hacking into brokerage accounts. Exposure of once-secret NSA programs suggests that the United States has a keen understanding of hacking and the tools to catch suspects. – YaleGlobal