Hack-and-leak operations are typically viewed as coming from nation state actors. We will show how private sector actors are getting involved.
India is home to a vibrant, but unexplored hacker-for-hire marketplace that has serviced private detectives and developing nations for at least a decade. While the contours of this secretive industry are occasionally outlined by the infosec community, concrete examples or details remain elusive.
Through unique sourcing and hacking data collected by Reuters, Bing and Satter will explore how this industry operates and who it targets. They will explain what their data shows and what it means for cyber defenders, including information about the hackers’ targeting preferences.
The presentation will reveal new details that have never been published before about how this industry feeds disinformation campaigns aimed at important litigation battles. Satter and Bing will focus on one court battle, which contains vivid detail, that helps piece together this activity.
The presentation will be partially based on existing reporting since 2020 about an Indian hacker firm, but it will also go further by tapping into a larger community of mercenary hackers discovered during the last year of reporting.