Most spam e-mails are ignored (even before the receiver reads it) for three things: unfamiliar or weird e-mail address, suspicious subject, and syntax errors.
However, if you’ll take time to go through the message, it is either faking someone you know to ask for financial help, announcing your winning in a contest or lottery you never joined, or telling you to click on a link the sender has provided. As most computer-literate people (hopefully) know, the traditional spam hackers use the latter to install malware on the receiver’s system to gain access to his or her personal data for purposes we don’t like to think about. While some think that these hackers are working individually, like the ones depicted in TV series, a new hacking group, dubbed as the Comment Group, may prove that they can be just as highly organized as any corporation working in departments and associated hierarchies.
According to a report from BBC, industry insiders say that the Comment Group is based in China and offers hacking services for individuals, corporations, and governments alike. It must be huge as it has been linked with several hacking incidents such as a nuclear attack, US corporations’ acquisitions of companies in China, and New York Times’ plan to write a piece on China’s former premier, Wen Jiabao.
Much like how departments function in companies, the group is believed to be composed of teams, each taking care of the smaller and more specific aspects of hacking - from programming malwares and designing websites to retrieving pertinent data for their mission. The group’s asset, BBC says, is in its ‘research department’ where even the smallest information about a second or third degree connection to a corporation is divulged.
Alienvault’s security specialist, Jaime Blasco told BBC about some of Comment Group’s possible tactics. One is leaving seemingly legit links on the comments box of popular websites, which is also why they have been named as they are. Another is by e-mailing personalized messages to the company’s employees or connections and making it appear like it came from a person in the company or from another professional or entity related to the receiver, very far from the usual spam messages. Waterholing or second-guessing which websites an entity’s employees would visit on the web is also a strategy. The hackers implant malware on these sites and get installed in the entity’s system when accessed by one of its employees. From these, the group gathers intelligence about the receiver and, ultimately, a company’s or a government’s documents.
Hacking is a dangerous business and no one can be sure as of to-day how much this industry makes. However, website cultofmac.com listed estimates of what we can consider a less dangerous form of hacking, one that involves making free use of what is otherwise sold by companies to consumers online. This site reveals that hackers can make $250,000 by selling iOS exploits (i.e. making use of security flaws and vulnerabilities of Apple’s signature operating system) to the government.
However, if you’ll take time to go through the message, it is either faking someone you know to ask for financial help, announcing your winning in a contest or lottery you never joined, or telling you to click on a link the sender has provided. As most computer-literate people (hopefully) know, the traditional spam hackers use the latter to install malware on the receiver’s system to gain access to his or her personal data for purposes we don’t like to think about. While some think that these hackers are working individually, like the ones depicted in TV series, a new hacking group, dubbed as the Comment Group, may prove that they can be just as highly organized as any corporation working in departments and associated hierarchies.
According to a report from BBC, industry insiders say that the Comment Group is based in China and offers hacking services for individuals, corporations, and governments alike. It must be huge as it has been linked with several hacking incidents such as a nuclear attack, US corporations’ acquisitions of companies in China, and New York Times’ plan to write a piece on China’s former premier, Wen Jiabao.
Much like how departments function in companies, the group is believed to be composed of teams, each taking care of the smaller and more specific aspects of hacking - from programming malwares and designing websites to retrieving pertinent data for their mission. The group’s asset, BBC says, is in its ‘research department’ where even the smallest information about a second or third degree connection to a corporation is divulged.
Alienvault’s security specialist, Jaime Blasco told BBC about some of Comment Group’s possible tactics. One is leaving seemingly legit links on the comments box of popular websites, which is also why they have been named as they are. Another is by e-mailing personalized messages to the company’s employees or connections and making it appear like it came from a person in the company or from another professional or entity related to the receiver, very far from the usual spam messages. Waterholing or second-guessing which websites an entity’s employees would visit on the web is also a strategy. The hackers implant malware on these sites and get installed in the entity’s system when accessed by one of its employees. From these, the group gathers intelligence about the receiver and, ultimately, a company’s or a government’s documents.
Hacking is a dangerous business and no one can be sure as of to-day how much this industry makes. However, website cultofmac.com listed estimates of what we can consider a less dangerous form of hacking, one that involves making free use of what is otherwise sold by companies to consumers online. This site reveals that hackers can make $250,000 by selling iOS exploits (i.e. making use of security flaws and vulnerabilities of Apple’s signature operating system) to the government.
Knut Harald Nylænde is the founder and incumbent Chief Executive Officer of the Moxie Group, an investments group based in Oslo. With extensive experience in investments and global business, Knut writes about relevant issues and trends in business and culture.