International arrest warrant issued against Landis

[BroDeal]

Wrong.

In November 2006, lab officials filed a formal complaint saying that its computer data had been stolen and used in Landis’s defense. That confidential data was also sent to other labs and news media, officials said. A subsequent search of the lab’s computers turned up a Trojan horse, which is a program that allowed an outsider to remotely download files.

Investigators concluded that the program could have originated from an e-mail message sent to the lab from a computer using the same Internet protocol address as Arnie Baker, Landis’s coach.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/sports/cycling/16landis.html

From a technical point of view, what I think is Race Radio's scenario makes the most sense. It would go like this:

1) Hacker installs a trojan on an LNDD computer. The e-mail containing the trojan is traced back to the hacker.

2) Baker accesses the LNDD computer from his home, which allows the French authorities to find an IP address.

3) Baker modifies the documents he retrieved from the LNDD.

4) Baker accesss the LNDD again and mails the modified docs so that it appears that they are coming from a source within the LNDD. Again the IP address is recorded when the LNDD system is accessed.

5) French authorities find Baker's IP address and tie it to the address that accessed the LNDD. They get Baker's IP addr from a regular and known transaction he made with a computer in France, like a comment on a news story, video or audio conferencing, or whatever. Maybe they even go through U.S. channels and obtain Baker's address from his ISP.

 

[The Crusher]

That has nothing to do with Armstrong hacking L'Equipe. It has to do with Armstrong using passwords from The Paceline to access the e-mail accounts of critics who had accounts at the Paceline and used the same password on the Paceline as they did with their e-mail account.

True, but the originally quoted comment was vague (ending in "or something"). I think if there's a real article in LeMond suggesting that Lance Armstrong was responsible for the LNDD hacking, that this falls under the
"or something" that the original person couldn't quite remember.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Wow. I have to say I'm about 99% confident that this article is completely wrong. I've been following this case, and no one else has said this.
I think some reporters got in a big hurry and completely blew the story.

An article published last week in Le Monde by French journalist Stéphane Mandard contained a claim that Lance Armstrong might be the mystery hacker of the LNDD lab

Snap. Seems your burden of proof depends who's telling the story.
I'm 100% certain that might doesn't constitute proof.
It does help to make for smoke and mirrors, though.

Hope they can afford to pay you.

 

[The Crusher]

Snap. Seems your burden of proof depends who's telling the story.
I'm 100% certain that might doesn't constitute proof.
It does help to make for smoke and mirrors, though.

Hope they can afford to pay you.

I went back and reviewed some of the older articles, including that french article I posted a few items back. It turns out that the hacker Alain Quiros had confessed to exactly what the NYTimes is now (mistakenly IMHO) attributing to Arnie Baker - that is Alain Quiros confessed to sending an email with a trojan horse used to achieve the break-in. So I'll move myself up to 99.9% sure that NYT got it wrong.

My only point on the Lance thing was that there was in fact this wacky claim that Lance was a hacker, that the idea wasn't an invention. I don't really think Lance did it. Although it did have to be somebody with a lot of spare cash, and a hatred of the french lab... no just kidding.

 

[Anonymous]

Point of Law

I checked Wikipedia and in the Right to silence article it states that

"France

In France, the Code of Criminal Procedure (art. L116) makes it compulsory that when an investigating judge hears a suspect, he must warn him that he has the right to remain silent, to make a statement, or to answer questions. A person against which suspicions lay cannot legally be interrogated by justice as an ordinary witness.

At the actual trial, a defendant can be compelled to make a statement. However, the code also prohibits hearing a suspect under oath; thus, a suspect may say whatever he feels fit for his defence, without fear of sanction for perjury. This prohibition is extended to the suspects spouse and members of his close family (this extension of the prohibition may be waived if both the prosecution and the defence counsel agree to the waiver)."

I'm not sure if the Statement that the accused can be compelled to make amounts to a full testimony or if it's more limited than that.

Generally speaking the right to remain silent exists in some variation in all western countries, but as you can see it's different for France. Denmark has yet another incarnation of the principle where the suspect can neither be compelled to say anything, nor be charged with Perjury if they lie (I was suprised to learn a few years back that this could happen in the US).

So, if I understand this correctly, FL can be compelled to go to France, but once there he can not be compelled to testify?

 

[BroDeal]

My only point on the Lance thing was that there was in fact this wacky claim that Lance was a hacker, that the idea wasn't an invention.

You mean aside from using Paceline passwords to read other people's e-mail?

 

[Anonymous]

Rip

another thread degenerates into meaningless babbling and shouting
how boreing

 

[shawnrohrbach]

PARIS | Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:40am EST

PARIS (Reuters) - A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant against American rider Floyd Landis for suspected hacking into an anti-doping laboratory computer, French anti-doping agency head Pierre Bordry told Reuters on Monday. Read more >

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61E3R420100215?type=sportsNews



© DoesAnybodyOutThereEvenCare

I have spent the past twenty years in IT security, and have been involved in forensics of various computer based crimes. I find this article more amusing than damning. A ten cent lawyer will handle this one quite easily. The first rule of forensics is SHUT THE F*** UP. To leak that they traced the "hack" back to a computer associated with Landis is probably a lie. Forensic police do not talk about what they find until they need to present the evidence. Knowing the volatility of the associated case involving this lab, I would also look inside the lab. It is very easy to mask an IP address, creeps do it all day long on the internet so when they surf for illegal porn, it takes the police a little while longer to figure out the real IP address the illegal activity came from. More than likely, as I have found in many, many "hack" cases, someone inside the lab gave him copies of the information he needed and then a cover up was initiated.

 

[fatandfast]

I have spent the past twenty years in IT security, and have been involved in forensics of various computer based crimes. I find this article more amusing than damning. A ten cent lawyer will handle this one quite easily. The first rule of forensics is SHUT THE F*** UP. To leak that they traced the "hack" back to a computer associated with Landis is probably a lie. Forensic police do not talk about what they find until they need to present the evidence. Knowing the volatility of the associated case involving this lab, I would also look inside the lab. It is very easy to mask an IP address, creeps do it all day long on the internet so when they surf for illegal porn, it takes the police a little while longer to figure out the real IP address the illegal activity came from. More than likely, as I have found in many, many "hack" cases, someone inside the lab gave him copies of the information he needed and then a cover up was initiated.

Not sure if you are still around the San Diego area. Dr.baker is also a writer and a die hard racer. He is an alright writer given the subject and the fact that his perspective is coaching, he tells very few stories about all the accomplished racers he has ridden with and talked to while pursuing the sport. He knows lots about racers and racing way of life before his mix with Floyd.
The telling of a story about a cycling coach and winning amateur probably won't be much of a read but this guy is a pretty quirky and interesting character.You should interview him when you write your everything about bikers book. If you are too busy riding and living read Eric Blehm's "The Last Season", fantastic book about something you know about.

 

[Epicycle]

Yeah because one of Floyd's good buddies would never do something as stupid as threaten a witness with a call from his personal cellphone...I mean send a malicious program from the e-mail hosted with his personal web page.

 

[usedtobefast]

another thread degenerates into meaningless babbling and shouting
how boreing

i was glazing over a couple of pages ago.

 

[usedtobefast]

Not sure if you are still around the San Diego area. Dr.baker is also a writer and a die hard racer. He is an alright writer given the subject and the fact that his perspective is coaching, he tells very few stories about all the accomplished racers he has ridden with and talked to while pursuing the sport. He knows lots about racers and racing way of life before his mix with Floyd.
The telling of a story about a cycling coach and winning amateur probably won't be much of a read but this guy is a pretty quirky and interesting character.You should interview him when you write your everything about bikers book. If you are too busy riding and living read Eric Blehm's "The Last Season", fantastic book about something you know about.

i have raced with him numerous times. an ok guy mostly.

 

[Race Radio]

Wow. I have to say I'm about 99% confident that this article is completely wrong. I've been following this case, and no one else has said this. But this is a kind of telephone-game distortion of what has been reported, which includes:

A trojan horse was used for the breakin.
An IP address allegedly belonging to Arnie Baker was connected to emails sent out when the stolen documents were being distributed publicly.

I think some reporters got in a big hurry and completely blew the story.

Given that you have consistently been wrong with most of your posts I am going with the NYT on this one. The Trojan horse story has been reported before, it is not just the NYT saying this.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964588,00.html

 

[Polish]

I think you need to re-read the articles.

I think that was good advice:0

And the more I read (and re-read), the more I agree with Floyd's statements

"But certainly I hope it's not lost on anyone that it is a grand admission to having substandard computers at their self-proclaimed 'nation's best lab'.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/landis-denies-hacking-charges


And the latest comments from Mr Arnie....

“Months ago I offered to be interviewed through the applicable U.S.-French Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and the French authorities have not done so,” Baker told VeloNews in an email Tuesday. “I want to make it clear once again: I never hacked into, and never helped or hired or asked anyone to hack into, the LNDD (French anti-doping) computer system.”
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...ays-hes-offered-to-talk-denies-hacking_105351


"We need more Funds, We need more Funds" whines Bordry in 2006

2006....Laboratory director Jacques de Ceaurriz confirmed to AFP that an investigation had begun after the discovery that their computer system had been accessed from outside.
The news prompted France’s head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), Pierre Bordry, to demand more government funds to safeguard the laboratory.
“We need funds from the government to modernize the lab and make the internal computer system completely safe from such attacks,” said Bordry. “I’m sorry to have discovered that the system was not sufficiently protected.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2006...n-hacking-case-riis-rolls-out-new-tests_11201


"We need more Funds, We need more Funds" circa 2010...just shut the lab down for crying out loud....good riddance to bad rubbish

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) could cease to exist if the nation's government does not provide the necessary funding for its continuation in 2010, according to the agency's president, Pierre Bordry.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/huge-funding-cuts-threaten-future-of-afld

 

[BroDeal]

I think that was good advice:0

And the more I read (and re-read), the more I agree with Floyd's statements

"But certainly I hope it's not lost on anyone that it is a grand admission to having substandard computers at their self-proclaimed 'nation's best lab'.

It says nothing of the sort. Computer security is a difficult problem. Security breaches occur everywhere despite people's best efforts to prevent it.

What FLandis' statements do say is that he is an idiot who desperately needs someone to give him advice. He should not be needlessly antagonizing people who can make his life hard if he wants to race in Europe again.

And the latest comments from Mr Arnie....

“Months ago I offered to be interviewed through the applicable U.S.-French Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and the French authorities have not done so,” Baker told VeloNews in an email Tuesday. “I want to make it clear once again: I never hacked into, and never helped or hired or asked anyone to hack into, the LNDD (French anti-doping) computer system.”

The problem with the people around FLandis is that you really cannot believe anything they say. The wiki defense was filled with lies and distortions.

 

[The Crusher]

Given that you have consistently been wrong with most of your posts I am going with the NYT on this one. The Trojan horse story has been reported before, it is not just the NYT saying this.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964588,00.html

It's just the same bad story being repeated in a news version of the telephone game. One bad story gets written and used as a reference by more and more people.

I'm not choosing my side because I'm partisan. It just makes more sense.

In your universe, LNDD is hacked with a trojan horse email that they traced to Arnie. And because they traced it to Arnie, they pursued some guy named Alain Quiros, who fled to Morocco, but ended up being questioned by a Morrocan magistrate... and so Mr. Quiros confessed to breaking into LNDD using the trojan horse email even though you say it was really Arnie. Alain Quiros fingered Thierry Lorho, who also confessed to his part, and fingered Jean Francois Dominguez, who also confessed to his role.

To summarize, in your universe, all the evidence pointed at Arnie Baker, but they ignored evidence and magically found a trail of three different people all of whom confessed.

In my universe, Quiros, Lorho, and Dominguez were hackers for hire who did just what they said they did. They were pursued because the evidence pointed at them, not at Arnie. And then the NYTimes misread some stories that they were translating from french while working on a modern two-hour news cycle, and then other people repeated their error.

In my universe, all I have to do is explain why the NYT might blow it. In your universe, you have to explain why they french police would work to get a confession out of someone when the evidence didn't point there.

 

[Race Radio]

My only point on the Lance thing was that there was in fact this wacky claim that Lance was a hacker, that the idea wasn't an invention. I don't really think Lance did it. Although it did have to be somebody with a lot of spare cash, and a hatred of the french lab... no just kidding.

Kathy Lemond, Greg Lemond, Betsy Andreau and Frankie Andreau emails were all hacked. 3 guess who would be the most motivated to do this......

 

[Spare Tyre]

True, the US often objects to having to extradite anybody abroad, but as soon as something happens they want someone, they push hard as hell to get them extradited to the US.

Seems to me this attitude is reflected in a lot of the posts in this thread. USA-centrism? Hypocrisy?

 

[elizab]

Kathy Lemond, Greg Lemond, Betsy Andreau and Frankie Andreau emails were all hacked. 3 guess who would be the most motivated to do this......

Too damn bad the lawsuit didn't make it to a FEDERAL court...

If anyone out there works for AOL and can help me out, let me know. In April of 2006, Frankie's e-mail account as well as mine were compromised. We filed a lawsuit against AOL. Dykema Gossett represented us (an extremely well respected law firm with offices throughout the U.S.). After spending thousands of dollars and a lot of time, we finally got a Michigan judge to subpoena AOL for the identity of the hacker. AOL's response? We're in Virginia and we don't - by law - have to answer to this subpoena since your court does not have jurisdiction in our state. Had we tens of thousands more in disposable income, we would've pursued it but Frankie didn't want to.
I stand by every single word in my deposition and testimony. Thanks for that link, Crusher; never saw it before.

September 2008, Greg and Kathy's e-mail account was compromised. Their attorneys successfully subpoenaed their server to find the identity of the hacker. Their server complied and turned it over to the Minnesota State Attorney General's Office who has been sitting on it for well over a year.

Anyone from AOL or Minnesota's State Attorney General's Office want to help out, it will gladly be accepted.

RR - it's Andreu - no "a" at the end.

 

[Bicicleta]

Neil Browne just interviewed Floyd and posted it. Funny in parts - but joking about the Luger from Georgia who was killed at the Olympics on Friday is not. I am not posting the link. After that comment Floyd is not worth even the effort of cutting and pasting from me.

 

[Race Radio]

It's just the same bad story being repeated in a news version of the telephone game. One bad story gets written and used as a reference by more and more people.

I'm not choosing my side because I'm partisan. It just makes more sense.

In your universe, LNDD is hacked with a trojan horse email that they traced to Arnie. And because they traced it to Arnie, they pursued some guy named Alain Quiros, who fled to Morocco, but ended up being questioned by a Morrocan magistrate... and so Mr. Quiros confessed to breaking into LNDD using the trojan horse email even though you say it was really Arnie. Alain Quiros fingered Thierry Lorho, who also confessed to his part, and fingered Jean Francois Dominguez, who also confessed to his role.

To summarize, in your universe, all the evidence pointed at Arnie Baker, but they ignored evidence and magically found a trail of three different people all of whom confessed.

In my universe, Quiros, Lorho, and Dominguez were hackers for hire who did just what they said they did. They were pursued because the evidence pointed at them, not at Arnie. And then the NYTimes misread some stories that they were translating from french while working on a modern two-hour news cycle, and then other people repeated their error.

In my universe, all I have to do is explain why the NYT might blow it. In your universe, you have to explain why they french police would work to get a confession out of someone when the evidence didn't point there.

It may not make sense to you because you left out, or purposely ignored, much of the actual case

Quiros was caught not because of the Landis case but because of the Greenpeace case. He was caught after he was hired by a French energy company to hack Greenpeace. When he was caught the police found evidence of his involvement in the Landis case, to which he confessed.

In addition to Arnie's IP address, Quiros confessions, and the fact the Arnie used modified versions of the hacked documents in his court case they also found electronic fingerprints on LNDD documents on their server. On many of the documents the last person to view them was some guy named "Arnie"

Reality sucks crusher, but it time you faced up to it.

 

[The Crusher]

It may not make sense to you because you left out, or purposely ignored, much of the actual case

Quiros was caught not because of the Landis case but because of the Greenpeace case. He was caught after he was hired by a French energy company to hack Greenpeace. When he was caught the police found evidence of his involvement in the Landis case, to which he confessed.

In addition to Arnie's IP address, Quiros confessions, and the fact the Arnie used modified versions of the hacked documents in his court case they also found electronic fingerprints on LNDD documents on their server. On many of the documents the last person to view them was some guy named "Arnie"

Reality sucks crusher, but it time you faced up to it.

It is you who are ignoring facts. First and foremost, you continue to ignore the fact that Alain Quiros CONFESSED TO the acts that the NYTimes article attributes to Arnie Baker.

And here, you've reinvented history, or at least reordered it. Alain Quiros was caught FIRST in connection with the LNDD breakin, and only later connected with the EDF/Greenpeace case.

Before this week, the only allegations against Arnie Baker and Floyd Landis was that they were responsible for distributing documents under the false identity of Norman Crepin. There was a clear implication that they obtained these documents directly from the hacker, presumably as a cash transaction. But this part is only implication, no evidence has ever been claimed.

That they distributed these documents once they were already public through numerous other sources is not in doubt. The questions that remain up in the air (according to all credible press on the subject) is whether they had these documents ahead of everyone else, and by extension, whether or not they paid for the hacking. These remain open questions.

I do not claim that I have the answers to these questions. I do not even claim that Arnie and/or Floyd are innocent of these actions. I simply claim that at this point, a number of so-called facts are being misreported by the press, and even more distorted in forums like this one.

Allegations that Arnie was, in one way or another, DIRECTLY involved in the hacking, and not merely a cash provider or data recipient, are all new allegations this week, and no evidence has been offered to support them, and they are in direct contradiction to everything else that's ever been reported on this case.

 

[Race Radio]

It is you who are ignoring facts. First and foremost, you continue to ignore the fact that Alain Quiros CONFESSED TO the acts that the NYTimes article attributes to Arnie Baker.

And here, you've reinvented history, or at least reordered it. Alain Quiros was caught FIRST in connection with the LNDD breakin, and only later connected with the EDF/Greenpeace case.

Before this week, the only allegations against Arnie Baker and Floyd Landis was that they were responsible for distributing documents under the false identity of Norman Crepin. There was a clear implication that they obtained these documents directly from the hacker, presumably as a cash transaction. But this part is only implication, no evidence has ever been claimed.

That they distributed these documents once they were already public through numerous other sources is not in doubt. The questions that remain up in the air (according to all credible press on the subject) is whether they had these documents ahead of everyone else, and by extension, whether or not they paid for the hacking. These remain open questions.

I do not claim that I have the answers to these questions. I do not even claim that Arnie and/or Floyd are innocent of these actions. I simply claim that at this point, a number of so-called facts are being misreported by the press, and even more distorted in forums like this one.

Allegations that Arnie was, in one way or another, DIRECTLY involved in the hacking, and not merely a cash provider or data recipient, are all new allegations this week, and no evidence has been offered to support them, and they are in direct contradiction to everything else that's ever been reported on this case.

I do not share your confusion.

As I see the reporting the Trojan Horse was provided by Quiros and was installed with his guidance. There was evidence of the LNDD hacking on his computer when he was arrested.

There is evidence that Arnie was involved. It has been reported that Arnie's IP address is connected with a user of the Trojan horse and emails of the hacked documents. A person named Arnie was found to have looked through many of the documents on the LNDD servers. This is not surprising as I would not expect Quiros to know what to look for.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I'm not choosing my side because I'm partisan. It just makes more sense.

In your universe, you have to explain why they french police would work to get a confession out of someone when the evidence didn't point there.

You are not partisan, yet you choose to believe in Baker and Landis, who had the opportunity to prove their innocence, but didn't, over the French police and legal system.

In my universe, it's YOU who have to explain why these national institutions would be more likely to lie about evidence, than Baker and Landis.

Why assume that the French legal system is corrupt, because they have some sort of a national agenda against a cyclist, as opposed to a cyclist, who had nothing to lose and everything to gain, by discrediting the LNDD?

This attitude, to me, just doesn't make sense.

 

[kurtinsc]

Kurt, with all due respect, can you please go re-read the Cyclingnews.com article and/or the Reuters press release?

Both the articles specifically state that both Landis and Baker are being charged with the crime of hacking the labs computers. I repeat, both Landis and Baker, charged with hacking, arrest warrant issued for hacking.

If you read the statements, Bodry does insinuate that the warrant for Landis was for hacking... but he never actually says it. The prosecuters in France interviewed said quite clearly the warrant was for not answering the summons, not for the hacking charge.

-Cassuto issued the warrant Jan. 28 because Landis did not respond to a summons in November, Bordry said.

-Judge Thomas Cassuto, based in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, is seeking to question Landis about computer hacking dating back to September 2006 at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, said Astrid Granoux, spokeswoman for Nanterre's prosecutor's office.

Bodry does basically accuse Landis of hacking... but he never stated that's what the warrant was for... because it wasn't. Landis was summoned to answer questions about the hacking case. When he didn't come, they put out a warrant for not responding to the summons. He has not been charged with hacking.