With quasi-military business models, alleged parliamentary links and even feedback forums on the more current "carding forums", the proceeds of some heists have reaped more than A$21 million (US$15.9 million) from stolen data - according to the interior minister of "one country".

But who had any idea there was a funny side?

At times Jacobson had those attending his presentation at this year's Australia Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCert) conference in Queensland last week laughing out loud. Not at the terrible crimes of teenage Ukrainian youth, but at the extent of the operations with one crudely-named network even sponsoring state-endorsed cultural events and advertising an online site.

"All you have to do is set up a bulletin board and the Web provides order and stability," Jacobson said.

"You control membership and kick out time wasters. At any time there are at least a dozen [sites] operating and if you divide the traffic a big part of it is transactional - buying and selling hacked databases, counterfeit credit cards and drivers' licences.