14 DAY TRIAL // Secret Service representatives say they’re close to determining exactly how cybercriminals managed to breach the systems of retailer Target and steal the details for 40 million payment cards. However, they’re not very optimistic about identifying the perpetrators.
Ari Baranoff, assistant special agent in charge with the Secret Service's criminal investigative division, says that it could take years to identify the cybercriminals. Furthermore, since they’re likely from overseas, extraditing them and prosecuting them could also turn out to be problematic, Baranoff said, cited by The Associated Press.
However, the Secret Service hopes that by keeping a close eye on suspects, the agency could arrest them when the time is right. While it might take years, Baranoff says that the agency is very patient when it comes to these things. It doesn’t have a problem in prosecuting criminals even 10 years after the crime was committed.
While he hasn’t said anything about the attacker’s identity or location, US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has told 13News that evidence suggests that the cybercriminals are from Ukraine.
Furthermore, the senator claims that the former Ukrainian government knew about their activities, but turned a blind eye because they “saw this as a money making way.”
Warner has urged President Barack Obama to leverage the US’s aid to Ukraine to ask the government to crack down on organized cybercrime.