Cute pet names like Fancy Bear, Refined Kitten, and Sea Turtle belie the havoc these hacker groups wreak across the world.
What if a hacker group thought to be part of a nation’s intelligence agency turns out to be a hacker-for-hire contractor? Or cybercriminals temporarily conscripted to work on behalf of a government? “Assessments change over time,” Lee says. “Like, ‘We told you it was Dirty Mustard and now it’s Swirling Tempest,’ and you’re like, what the fuck?”
When I reached out to Microsoft about its new naming scheme, the head of its Threat Intelligence Center, John Lambert, explained the rationale behind the change: Microsoft's new names are more distinct, memorable, and searchable. In contrast to Lee's point about choosing neutral names, the Microsoft teamto give customers more context about hackers in the names, Lambert says, immediately identifying their nationality and motive.
Microsoft's team was also just running out of elements—there are, after all, only 118 of them. “We liked weather because it's a pervasive force, it's disruptive, and there's a kindred spirit because the study of weather over time involves improvement in sensors, data, and analysis,” says Lambert. “That's cybersecurity defenders' world, too.
There's a certain, stubborn logic behind the cybersecurity industry's ever-growing sprawl of hacker group handles. When a threat intelligence firm finds evidence of a new team of network intruders, they can't be sure they're seeing the same group that another company has already spotted and labeled, even if they do see familiar malware, victims, and command-and-control infrastructure between the two groups.
But, sprawl aside, did these names have to be quite so on-their-face ridiculous? To some degree, it may be wise to give names to hacker gangs that rob them of their malevolent glamour. Members of the Russian ransomware group EvilCorp, for instance, are not likely to be happy with Microsoft's rebranding them as Manatee Tempest.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
SafeMoon hacker agrees to return 80% of stolen funds: Finance RedefinedThe top 100 DeFi tokens fell off their bullish momentum with many tokens trading in the red on weekly charts while TVL fell by $4 billion.
Read more »
Matt Walsh Twitter Hacker Gained Access to ‘Everything’Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s Twitter account was hacked this week and the hackers reportedly gained access to “everything,” including Walsh’s email accounts.
Read more »
Quentin Tarantino Reveals His Favorite Suspenseful Scene From His MoviesQuentin Tarantino reveals his favorite suspenseful scene from his entire filmography which includes Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Inglourious Basterds.
Read more »
Nikki and Brie Bella say they’re using their birth names going forward — here's why👯 WWE Hall of Famers and reality show stars Nikki and Brie Garcia NikkiAndBrie open up about family, the new chapter in their lives and reveal why they dropped “Bella” from their names. Sponsored by Sonoma County Tourism.
Read more »
Parenting, Baby Names, Celebrities, and Royal News | CafeMom.com
Read more »