Cyber Security Firm Dragos Targeted By Hackers

Uploaded on 2023-08-29 in TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, NEWS-News Analysis, FREE TO VIEW

The CEO of cyber security company Dragos, Robert M Lee, received a message earlier this year from an organised crime group claiming that it had broken into Dragos’s employee email account. They threatened Lee that they would release the company’s data unless a ransom were paid. He refused to negotiate with the attackers, so the hackers increased the amounts.

In addition, they found his son's passport, school and phone number online. Lee said the message was clear: pay up or your family is at risk. "When you start talking about your child's life and safety, things take a different turn," Lee told reporters. He is a veteran of both the US military and the National Security Agency.

The criminal group that threatened Lee is known to resort to “swatting”, a practice when someone maliciously calls the local authorities pretending to be a victim of an armed attack, prompting a police SWAT team being sent to a target’s home. “Basically, they’re trying to get someone killed,” said Lee, who was told by local police that their best option in that situation was to lie down on the floor.

Lee is a recognised authority in the industrial cyber security industry and co-founded Dragos, a global technology leader in cyber security for industrial controls systems operational technology environments.

Other Hacking Attacks

The threats are widespread and can be highly inventive. Examples include a Ukrainian hacker who mailed a gram of heroin to the home of Brian Krebs, a journalist turned cyber security analyst. They then had a florist deliver a huge bouquet in the shape of a cross to Krebs' house. In other incidents, victims have been instructed to send money to cyber security professionals' bank accounts in an attempt to trap them. A North Korean hacker group impersonated security researchers on LinkedIn, with prospective contacts then sending malware hidden in an encryption key.

"We're an organisation that's constantly engaged with threat actors, so we have to think about our own security, from a physical standpoint," said Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant , which is called upon to investigate major breaches, such as recently at the State Department and to other US agencies.

But some analysts have warned that the situation is being exacerbated by the deep involvement of Western companies in the cybersecurity of Ukraine, a country that has faced the most sustained and sophisticated cyber attacks on record. "It's going to get worse," said the investigator whose home was searched. "Someone is going to get killed" was the ominous prediction he made in the Financial Times.

Dragos have firmly maintained that they will not engage nor pay ransom at any point. It's a hard stance to take, a lot of organisation will buckle under the pressure.

TechWar: FT: Bloomberg: SC Magazine: Bleeping Computer: Dragos: LinkedIn

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