Symantec researcher Kevin Haley believes the increased desire to hire cyber attackers to offensively combat cybercrime, fraud, and espionage presents a troubling trend. In his interview with Tracy Kitten (available here), he discusses the sophistication of the “attackers-for-hire” as well as the new cyber-defense options that should be considered in response to this trend.
BBC reports that Russian police have arrested the man believed to be behind the creation of Blackhole and Cool exploit kits, nicknamed “Paunch.” The hacking tools are routinely “sold to cybercriminals to infect web users with malware.”
Here’s an interesting tidbit from a ComputerWorld blog post by Darlene Storm about how cybercrime is seeping into the realm of endangered species. Poachers have discovered a way to hack into the GPS location technology that is used to track wildlife in order to identify the location of and hunt endangered Bengal tigers. Storm calls it “cyber-poaching.”
Sky News reports that the gang allegedly responsible for the cyber raid that resulted in the theft of more than £1 million from a Barclays branch have been arrested. The investigation has revealed that a keyboard, video, and mouse (“KVM”) switch, available online for less than $20, was used by “the Mr. Big of cybercrime” and seven co-conspirators.
Der Spiegel and New Europe report that the documents leaked by Snowden suggest that Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) launched a cyberattack against partly owned Belgian company Belgacom, “‘to enable better exploitation of Belgacom’ and to improve understanding of the provider’s infrastructure.”
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