On the internet, nobody knows youre a dog!
These words from Peter Steinersfamous cartooncould easily be applied to the recentransomware attackon Florida-based software supplier Kaseya.
Kaseya provides software services to thousands of clients around the world.
Russian cybercriminal organization REvil is the alleged culprit.
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Understanding who these groups are and what they want is critical to take them down.
Here, we list the top five most dangerous criminal organizations currently online.
The group seemingly first emerged in August last year.
Such companies are also more likely to havecyber insurancewhich, for criminals, means easy money-making.
DarkSides business model is to offer aransomware service.
The executor and perpetrator then share profits.
This group has been particularly active in 2020-2021.
Aransom of US$50 millionwas demanded to prevent public release of the stolen data.
It hasnt been revealed whether or not this money was paid.
The Clop groups specialty is double-extortion.
However, targets will then have to pay extra ransom to not have the data released publicly.
Historical examples reveal that organizations which pay a ransom once are more likely to pay again in the future.
So hackers will tend to target the same organizations again and again, asking for more money each time.
With this motive, they have been dubbed ahactivistgroup.
Their technique is to distributefake newsthrough reputable sources.
The fake AP tweet from the Syrian Electronic Army.
FIN7
If this list could contain a super villain, it would be FIN7.
Another Russian-based group, FIN7 is arguably the mostsuccessfulonline criminal organization of all time.
Operating since 2012, it mainly works as abusiness.
Many of its operations have been undetected for years.
Its data breaches have exploitedcross-attackscenarios, wherein the data breach serves multiple purposes.
This confidential information was exploited and used to obtain ransom which was then invested on the stock exchange.
As such, the groups made huge sums of money by trading on confidential information.
But its estimated to be well over US$1 billion.
Organized crime vs organized criminals
When it comes to complex criminal organizations,techniquesevolveandmotivesvary.
The way they organize themselves and commit crimes online is very different from your local offline gang.
Ransomware can be launched from anywhere in the world, so its very difficult to prosecute these criminals.
Matters are made even more complicated when several parties coordinate across borders.
Its no wonder the challenge for law enforcement agencies is significant.
Its crucial that authorities investigating an attack are sure it was indeed perpetrated by who they suspect.
But to know this, they need all the help they can get.
