Every single high-level FBI bust is always about the operator doing something really simple and dumb, then the FBI puffs its chest and acts all powerful.
Like that article about the guy trying to extort poker players. The FBI agent admits she always wanted to be like they were on the TV show "CHiPS" and how they've got the hardest cybersquad available and will break you so better just 'fess up. In reality? Guy logged into his Gmail account from his house, and proceeded to blackmail via email. I mean, come on. Asking Google for an IP is now badass? Yet from the reading, hoo boy do they like busting down doors with guns out as if it was some criminal overload's lair.
As far as DPR, there's most definitely more than what's in the complaint. They got an image of the server but don't mention how. Now, it might have been something super easy (external IP leak due to shitty PHP code or webserver config followed by a subpoena), or it could have been Tor hidden service analysis. Bottom line is that he reused a handle and linked it to his real ID, didn't use Tor to access his box, etc.
On the story I linked, it was literally a case of "Hey Gmail, which IPs used this account? Thanks. Hey Comcast, which subscriber is <IP>? Cool, locked and loaded!"
I'm not sure how "hard" this work is when you're the federal government and can compel everyone to cooperate with you.
Hubris has a place. Studies have found that swiftness/certainty of capture and punishment are far more effective at deterring crime than harshness of punishment.
A message like, "We will catch you" isn't just about going on some power trip. It's a preemptive PR play.
The FBI press releases might be PR. Agents' actions (not just FBI, but local police to federal) from personal and other experience (where there's no publicity) seem to indicate a lot of them simply get off on the power.
The intimidation is also used in personal confrontation to try to get the suspect to drop their rights and not wait for a lawyer or stay silent. That's why they love busting in with guns and telling you how much they know and how you better not "piss them off".
Like that article about the guy trying to extort poker players. The FBI agent admits she always wanted to be like they were on the TV show "CHiPS" and how they've got the hardest cybersquad available and will break you so better just 'fess up. In reality? Guy logged into his Gmail account from his house, and proceeded to blackmail via email. I mean, come on. Asking Google for an IP is now badass? Yet from the reading, hoo boy do they like busting down doors with guns out as if it was some criminal overload's lair.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/how-the-fbi-crack...