In this lesson,
we'll be covering organized crime in the cyberspace.
In recent years, a new formidable force has arisen
in the world of threat actors.
Just like the mafia dons of the 1940s and 1950s
in the United States, new organized crime groups have found
that it was time to move their operations online
to increase their reach
and their ability to profit from their attacks.
When we refer to this new class of threat actor,
we refer to them as organized crime
or organized cybercrime.
Organized cybercrime groups are sophisticated,
well-structured entities that leverage the resources
and technical skills for illicit gain
while causing significant harm to individuals, businesses,
and governments alike.
At their core, organized cybercrime groups are groups
or syndicates that have been banded together
to conduct criminal activities in the digital world.
These groups are typically well-structured,
with members assigned specific roles based
on their skills and expertise.
Organized crime groups operate similar
to traditional organized crime in the physical world,
but their activities are focused on cyberspace,
which provides them anonymity
and global reach of the internet.
Also, since they are operating across national borders,
these transnational organized cybercrime organizations
can create increased complexity for law enforcement
when they attempt to prosecute these attackers.
In terms of their technical capabilities,
organized crime groups possess a very high level
of technical capability
and they often employ advanced hacking techniques and tools,
including custom malware, ransomware,
and sophisticated phishing campaigns.
Their criminal operations are usually well-planned
and coordinated based on the criminal ring structured nature
and strategic approach to conducting attacks.
Organized cybercrime groups also demonstrate a high level
of adaptability,
since they are constantly evolving their methods
and response to new security measures and opportunities.
These groups are also known
to exploit emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies,
the dark web,
and the use of cellular collection devices
to facilitate their activities and evade detection.
When it comes to the motivations
for organized cybercrime groups,
it is almost always found to be focused
on the group's financial gain.
These criminal groups will engage in a variety
of illicit activities to generate revenue for their members,
including data breaches, identity theft, online fraud,
and ransomware attacks.
Often, these groups will target small
or medium-sized businesses
and high net worth individuals
who have substantial financial resources or valuable data.
Unlike hacktivists or nation-state actors,
organized cybercrime groups are not typically driven
by ideological or political objectives.
However, these groups may be hired by other entities,
including governments, to conduct cyber operations
and attacks on their behalf.
So while they may operate
in the political spectrum, they only do so
in order to generate financial gains for the group.
Essentially, when conducting these types of attacks,
the groups are acting as hired guns
or mercenaries for the political organization
or government that hires them.
A good example of an organized cybercrime group is a group
that is referred to as FIN7.
FIN7 is a sophisticated cybercrime syndicate
that has been linked to numerous high-profile data breaches
which primarily targeted the retail
and hospitality industries.
FIN7 is known for its advanced phishing campaigns
that use carefully crafted emails and websites
to trick employees
into revealing their login credentials
or installing malware onto their systems.
Another organized cybercriminal group is the Carbanak group,
which has reportedly stolen over $1 billion
from various banks around the world.
The Carbanak group uses sophisticated piece
of malware they created, known as Carbanak,
to infiltrate various banking networks
in order to manipulate the bank's system
to allow the group to transfer money between accounts
and to dispense cash from ATMs remotely.
So remember, organized cybercrime groups refer
to the coordinated groups or networks
of individuals who engage legal activities
in the digital realm
for financial gain or other malicious purposes.
These organized cybercriminals represent a significant
and growing threat online due to their combination
of being highly structured
and their use of a traditional organized crime strategy
that is then combined
with advanced technical skills to enable them
to conduct large-scale
and highly lucrative cyber attack operations.