Successful detection of cybercrime does not always turn out to be a happy ending for analysts.
"When it comes to your child's life and safety, everything takes on a different tone," admits Robert M. Lee, CEO of Dragos. Earlier this year, hackers broke into his firm's corporate network and threatened to publish sensitive data. The refusal to pay the ransom turned into new threats: the attackers obtained scans of Lee's son's documents, school address and phone number. For a loving father, the message was clear: pay up or your family is in trouble.
Blackmail is just one of the ways to put pressure on Western cybersecurity experts. For example, recently detractors threw heroin to journalist Brian Krebs after he retrained as an analyst. And then we ordered the delivery of a huge funeral wreath.
Drugs were also planted on other specialists, and they also threatened to kill their relatives and hacked accounts. Some were even sent money to fake receiving a bribe from hackers.
"This is a classic example of harassment and extortion," the expert from Eastern Europe explained. He was followed during a ski trip, called with threats. The man even had to calm his wife down after she was sent fake photos with another woman.
Unknown people broke into the home of another researcher, and then stole family photos on hacker forums.
The greatest danger is posed by organized cybercrime groups that can go to extremes. They blackmail entire companies with leaks and may even resort to" swapping " — false calls to the police on behalf of the victim with a request to send a SWAT team to her.
According to Charles Karmakal of Mandiant Consulting, many of his colleagues are forced to hide their identity and refuse to travel to certain countries for security reasons. This is due to the fact that analysts regularly expose expensive cybercrime operations, in particular those sponsored by the government.
Carmackle also claims that most attacks are not carried out by groups of hackers, but by "young people, teenagers, people in their early twenties who are not employees of hacking companies or members of military and intelligence structures."
"They have a lot of free time, they are ready to step over any boundaries and are not afraid to harm people," he explained.
Many researchers admit that they try not to provoke or ridicule criminals by focusing their reports on the technical side of hacking.
"When it comes to your child's life and safety, everything takes on a different tone," admits Robert M. Lee, CEO of Dragos. Earlier this year, hackers broke into his firm's corporate network and threatened to publish sensitive data. The refusal to pay the ransom turned into new threats: the attackers obtained scans of Lee's son's documents, school address and phone number. For a loving father, the message was clear: pay up or your family is in trouble.
Blackmail is just one of the ways to put pressure on Western cybersecurity experts. For example, recently detractors threw heroin to journalist Brian Krebs after he retrained as an analyst. And then we ordered the delivery of a huge funeral wreath.
Drugs were also planted on other specialists, and they also threatened to kill their relatives and hacked accounts. Some were even sent money to fake receiving a bribe from hackers.
"This is a classic example of harassment and extortion," the expert from Eastern Europe explained. He was followed during a ski trip, called with threats. The man even had to calm his wife down after she was sent fake photos with another woman.
Unknown people broke into the home of another researcher, and then stole family photos on hacker forums.
The greatest danger is posed by organized cybercrime groups that can go to extremes. They blackmail entire companies with leaks and may even resort to" swapping " — false calls to the police on behalf of the victim with a request to send a SWAT team to her.
According to Charles Karmakal of Mandiant Consulting, many of his colleagues are forced to hide their identity and refuse to travel to certain countries for security reasons. This is due to the fact that analysts regularly expose expensive cybercrime operations, in particular those sponsored by the government.
Carmackle also claims that most attacks are not carried out by groups of hackers, but by "young people, teenagers, people in their early twenties who are not employees of hacking companies or members of military and intelligence structures."
"They have a lot of free time, they are ready to step over any boundaries and are not afraid to harm people," he explained.
Many researchers admit that they try not to provoke or ridicule criminals by focusing their reports on the technical side of hacking.
