This presentation will focus on what we have learned from investigating the activity of cyber mercenaries, also referred to as private sector offensive actors (PSOAs), on LinkedIn (LI). We intend to particularly focus on observations from our investigations into Black Cube, a notorious mercenary actor, to shed some light on how mercenaries operate on LI. The discussion will include insights on how Black Cube has leveraged honeypot profiles, fake jobs, and fake companies to engage in sting or HUMINT operations against victims with access to organizations of interest and/or concern to Black Cube’s clients.
The talk aims to provide LinkedIn’s insights on how this actor has over the span of several years used social media to backstop their undercover personas and engage in social engineering. We hope to show how the actor’s online abuse translates into real-world impacts targeting a wide range of victims, from major financial services companies to civil society figures in countries where democracy is under attack.
Cyber mercenaries continue to pose a significant threat to individuals, organizations, and democracy. The actor we wish to discuss has long been a player in this space. We feel it is time to shed some “LI-ght” on their undercover ops.
