The myth of great computer pirate

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The writer is director of the Cybercrime Center Center and Professor of Emerging Harms at Cambridge University

In recent weeks, you may have heard the name “Dispersed spider” in relation to the continuous interruption of Marks and Spencer, the Cooperativa and Harrods. While there has been no public attribution For cyber attacks In detail in the UK so far, there are speculations that the tactics used are similar to an affiliated online network of abusers that bears this name. Other reports suggest collaboration with another cyber group, Dragonforce, who allegedly provides Ransomware as a service.

Scattered Spider has been related to breaches in various high -profile companies and has infiltrated the collective imagination of cybersecurity professionals, the media and the Government. However, its symbolic power, amplified by its amazing name, far exceeds its technical ability.

The size of the alleged objectives of the group can make it appear as if required piracy capabilities. But the reports indicate that they are incorporated into the organizations through the subsequent doors, convincing employees who do not want to allow access.

This can be done through social engineering (manipulating people to share private information), in the directed phishing, taking advantage of the fatigue of several factors and the exchange of SIM. These tactics are not new. They involve gentle conversation employees, leading them to fake websites to steal their credentials and take advantage of the verification bad practices. None of these crimes require highly skilled adversaries.

However, in the cybersecurity industry, marketing is everything. The names are chosen to invoke a visceral reaction and to promote fear. This fear helps to turn people to expensive high -tech safety products.

In fact, Spider Spider is not an official group that was called. His name was invoked by Cyber ​​Security Company Crowdstrike in 2022. Store online. (Crowdstrike, perhaps remember, was the company blamed for millions of computers who were out of line last summer, disturbing airlines, media, health services and emergency call centers due to a Botched Software Update.That)

It is not just crowdstrike that has names for groups involved in a deviation behavior. Other security companies are chosen the most attractive moniker, which will be displayed in media launches and ensure that their website reaches the top of search results. Spider scattered has received many other names, including Starfraud, UNC3944, Swine Swine and Muddled Libra.

There are some exceptions. Dragonforce seems to have been called, perhaps in an attempt to gain notoriety and to avoid a title chosen by the marketing department of a security company.

Names delivered to cyber bands not only describe their behavior, but also can give it. These linguistic options can inflate the symbolic capital of a group, granting legitimacy to its members, who are often adolescents or young adults seeking peer recognition and prestige. For them, cyber crime may not only be a means of wealth, but a rite of passage. Therefore, the scattered spider is being amplified by the same industry designed to neutralize.

Often the high-tech services that sells the cybersecurity sector protect the main door, while the criminals continue to ruin on the rear by means of low technology methods.

In a world in which affiliation with pirathical groups can be a badge of honor, regardless of the country or the language, criminals can be driven by the reputation and recognition of peers. To deal with cyber threats, we need a better deterrent, as cyber criminals do not usually face any consequences for their crimes. World persecution rates are extremely low. Many criminals avoid research completely, as their crimes are relatively low, despite high volume.

Cross-border effective collaboration is essential to addressing all the most mundane cyber crimes, and police have to train to deal with it. We need a sensitive ecosystem that can act in the early stages of security breaches.

If we want to protect ourselves from the cyber crime attack, we need an increase in persecution and a mature computer security industry that does not introduce vulnerabilities or provocative names.