Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has published their investigations and findings regarding a slew of hack-for-hire groups across the world.
Well, the TAG’s back at it again with the exposes and whatnot. Honestly, the group sometimes feels like the most fun part of Google as a whole, what with the amount of cybersecurity research they delve into. However, being the fun part of Google is probably like being the only nice cop in the Minneapolis PD. Too soon of a joke to make? Okay, I’ll stop, so long as Google also stops practicing predatory ad revenue policies while also refusing to pay journalists for repurposing their work in the name of giving them “exposure” or whatever. At any rate, the TAG states that many of these freelancers tend to gun for activists, politicians, or journalists. All three categories of individuals are people that would probably benefit others by shutting up, so it’s no surprise that these cybercriminals are actively paid to carry out online threats against them. Then again, paying someone to carry out cybersecurity attacks comes off as incredibly petty to me. You’re essentially paying someone to troll an activist just because you think Roe v. Wade being overturned is a good thing, yikes.
I do personally believe that the world’s current political climate is definitely contributing to the amount of online cybersecurity threats being conducted. Many groups of different ideologies choose to either berate each other in Twitter threads, through edgy podcasts run by comedians who were never funny in the first place, and finally through doxing them and leaking personal details online. A Russian hack-for-hire group Void Balaur actively hunts NGOs and non-profits. Why would it do so? Because the person paying for them would rather see good services crumble than see anyone inching towards equity. Well, at least certain citizens in both the US and Russia have something in common.
I’ll say this about Indian cybercriminal groups: they seem much more professional in their approach, hiring threat actors and third-party investigators in their attempts to cause damage. Their targets are much more removed from singular individuals or non-profits, instead encircling banks and shopping malls in the Balkans, Cyprus, and Israel. Props to the Threat Analysis Group for managing to isolate and catch many of these groups red-handed. Of course, since the TAG isn’t an official government registered group, and Google is completely uninterested in pursuing legal action against groups that exist almost entirely overseas, I see nothing coming of all this hard work.
Read next: Amazon Photos For Android Gets Green Light As Company Fixes Bug Affecting The Popular App
Well, the TAG’s back at it again with the exposes and whatnot. Honestly, the group sometimes feels like the most fun part of Google as a whole, what with the amount of cybersecurity research they delve into. However, being the fun part of Google is probably like being the only nice cop in the Minneapolis PD. Too soon of a joke to make? Okay, I’ll stop, so long as Google also stops practicing predatory ad revenue policies while also refusing to pay journalists for repurposing their work in the name of giving them “exposure” or whatever. At any rate, the TAG states that many of these freelancers tend to gun for activists, politicians, or journalists. All three categories of individuals are people that would probably benefit others by shutting up, so it’s no surprise that these cybercriminals are actively paid to carry out online threats against them. Then again, paying someone to carry out cybersecurity attacks comes off as incredibly petty to me. You’re essentially paying someone to troll an activist just because you think Roe v. Wade being overturned is a good thing, yikes.
I do personally believe that the world’s current political climate is definitely contributing to the amount of online cybersecurity threats being conducted. Many groups of different ideologies choose to either berate each other in Twitter threads, through edgy podcasts run by comedians who were never funny in the first place, and finally through doxing them and leaking personal details online. A Russian hack-for-hire group Void Balaur actively hunts NGOs and non-profits. Why would it do so? Because the person paying for them would rather see good services crumble than see anyone inching towards equity. Well, at least certain citizens in both the US and Russia have something in common.
I’ll say this about Indian cybercriminal groups: they seem much more professional in their approach, hiring threat actors and third-party investigators in their attempts to cause damage. Their targets are much more removed from singular individuals or non-profits, instead encircling banks and shopping malls in the Balkans, Cyprus, and Israel. Props to the Threat Analysis Group for managing to isolate and catch many of these groups red-handed. Of course, since the TAG isn’t an official government registered group, and Google is completely uninterested in pursuing legal action against groups that exist almost entirely overseas, I see nothing coming of all this hard work.
Read next: Amazon Photos For Android Gets Green Light As Company Fixes Bug Affecting The Popular App
