EDITOR’S COMMENT
When imitation is not the
sincerest form of flattery
T
he huge cost of cybercrime
was once again graphically
illustrated a few weeks ago by
a story on the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/
news/technology-39351215) of a hacker
who allegedly used phishing techniques
and fake websites to steal over $100
million from two major US companies.
According to the US Department
of Justice, the Lithuanian man
allegedly set up a bogus company,
which bore the same name as a
legitimate Asian-based computer
hardware manufacturer, and used the
front to siphon off money from two
major US companies between 2013
and 2015.
The attacker allegedly registered
the bogus company in Latvia and
opened various accounts in its name at
several banks around the world.
He is then reported to have sent
fraudulent phishing emails to employees
and agents of the victim companies, which
regularly conducted multimillion-dollar
transactions with the cloned company,
and got them to send money to bank
accounts set up around the world for
goods and services.
If you wanted a graphic illustration of
why there is such an active and motivated
cybercrime underworld, it’s here: $100
million worth of illustration!
Malicious actors have a range of
motivations, including geopolitical,
ideological and espionage purposes.
However, it is the financially motivated
cybercriminals we commonly see
targeting the organisations with which we
work. These actors will go wherever the
money is. Pure and simple. It also ably
12
Alastair Paterson, CEO and Co-Founder,
Digital Shadows.
Early detection
of these domains
is critical to help
organisations
identify threats
specific to their
business
demonstrates the threat posed by
fake websites, companies and brands
to legitimate businesses around the
world. The trouble is, it is easy to set
up these resources, but it’s not always
easy to identify them and act against
them quickly and before they can
have an impact. Intelligence is critical
in these cases; the sooner you know
about the threat, the sooner you can
do something about it and protect
your business.
But knowing the risk posed
by your digital footprint is critical
in today’s business environment.
Companies need to be aware
of the risks posed by malicious
typosquatting and impersonation in
support of targeted attacks. This is
where attackers use domain names
that are like a legitimate company to
launch a wide variety of online fraud,
including phishing campaigns.
Early detection of these domains is
critical to help organisations identify
threats specific to their business so that
they can quickly act to remove or neutralise
them. In one case, I have worked with a
US-based global brand, which was targeted
by another company with 50 typosquat
domains, which went undiscovered for
some time. In a second instance, we
detected 30 active phishing sites targeting
a client’s brand, and detected customer
and employees’ details being shared and
sold on IRC channels.
Early detection and effective
intelligence is critical in today’s digital
world to mitigate the risks created by
today’s connected world. This case yet
again shows why this is so important.
Issue 06
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS