Until you actually arrest the person, it is sometimes difficult to determine where the criminals are actually based. Some people thought the Sasser author was associated with Russia, not Germany. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/26/1085461839964.html Eastern European organised crime families are using the internet to target Australians. Delegates at the annual AusCERT Asia Pacific Internet Security Conference on the Gold Coast were warned yesterday that mobsters were hiring computer programmers to take their brand of criminal activity online. The deputy head of Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, Superintendent Mick Deats, said one Eastern European syndicate with interests in prostitution, drugs and gun smuggling was also earning money all over the world from internet credit card fraud, software piracy, child pornography and online extortion. "This particular group, to our knowledge so far, employ 10 programmers," he said. [...] American psychologist Max Kilger said hackers no longer fitted a typical stereotype. "The hacker stereotypes are long gone," he said.