Hackers Are Impersonating Each Other to Hide Their Real Agendas

Threat actors have been using cyber-disguises to keep their true intentions secret, according to a report published today by Optiv Security.

Typical cyber threat intelligence usually categorizes threat actors in fixed classes, such as nation-states, cyber-criminals, commercial entities, and hacktivists. But, according to Optiv’s new 2019 Cyber Threat Intelligence Estimate (CTIE) report, "it’s a mistake to assume these categories are rigid or to assume that a threat actor’s classification is static."

The CTIE report is inspired by national intelligence estimates, which are analytic reports produced by the intelligence community of the United States for consumption by Congress. The CTIE comprises contributions from Optiv’s Global Threat Intelligence Center (gTIC), cyber threat intelligence company IntSights, and Carbon Black, a leader in cloud endpoint protection.

Optiv researchers found that it's not unusual for threat actors to have multiple criminal identities that they can switch between to get what they want without revealing who they are or what their actual agenda is.

For example, nation-state actors may pretend to be just a regular cyber-criminal targeting a company’s customer database, when in reality their target is to delve into the firm's deepest recesses to steal its intellectual property. 

According to the report: "Sometimes threat actors may masquerade as a certain type in order to hide their true agenda. Or, threat actors may belong to two or more classes, swi ..

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