Nation-state conflict has come to dominate many of the policy discussions and much of the strategic thinking about cybersecurity. When events of geopolitical significance hit the papers, researchers look for parallel signs of sub rosa cyber activity carried out by state-sponsored threat actors—espionage, sabotage, coercion, information operations—to complete the picture. After all, behind every story may lurk a cyber campaign.
But ordinary criminals read the newspaper too and are keenly aware of the bias some researchers bring to the table. Exploiting that bias can provide additional camouflage, another layer of seeming invisibility, making threat actors harder to detect.
In this Threat Intelligence Bulletin, we’ll show how an investigation into the apparent targeting of a state-owned Russian oil company led to the uncovering not of a state-sponsored campaign but of the bold activity of what we believe to be a criminal effort motivated by the oldest of incentives—money.
Read more…
Source: Cylance