by TINTSWALO BALOYI
Executive Editor
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MONEY, not political affiliation, is the motive behind cyber criminality.
This is according to a local expert following reports the United States is hunting down alleged hackers said to be involved in campaigns to compromise critical infrastructure worldwide.
South Africa is apparently on the hackers’ list of targets.
The hacking syndicate – four individuals are on the wanted list- is said to be the aftermath of the Russia – Ukraine conflict.
Anna Collard, Senior Vice President: Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4, noted the majority of cyber-criminals are economically motivated and apolitical.
Typically, these unscrupulous elements are only interested in the money they can extort.
“The groups responsible for the extortion attacks against Transnet and Department of Justice last year are very likely among those,” Collard said.
She noted Russia as well as other major nation-states such as China, Israel and United States had invested extensive resources into their offensive cyber-capabilities for espionage or even cyber warfare reasons.
They have spent millions of dollars and man-hours on the development of sophisticated hacking tools and techniques.
Collard believes the problem is not just the nation-state going on the offensive, but the fact that they are inadvertently feeding the cyber-crime ecosystem.
“Cyber-criminals gain access to these sophisticated tools once they are leaked and then use them for financial gain such as extortion,” the expert explained.
– CAJ News