\u201cThe bad guys are getting very good, and they\u2019re improving...\u201d said the FBI cybercrime director in November 2023. Cybercrime has evolved and at a faster rate than the organizations tasked with stopping it. The reasons are many.\nCybercrime offers several advantages to offenders:\n
\nThe ability to commit crimes without being physically exposed\n
\nThe possibility of remaining (almost) completely anonymous\n
\nThe increasing digitalization of assets\u2014especially financial ones\n
\nGlobal legal gaps that make prosecution difficult<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cybercrime began in the 1980s, driven by curiosity and the desire to have fun. Entering the new millennium, these actors shifted their goals toward something more tangible: money.\nBy 2010, following the model of organized crime in the physical world, cybercriminals began forming international criminal syndicates. The stereotypical hooded hacker if they ever truly existed gave way to business-style professionals operating in large organizations whose business model focused on illegally obtaining financial assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A smaller group maintained the spirit of early hackers, motivated by ideology, giving rise to hacktivism movements such as Anonymous and Snowden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 2020s, cybercrime evolved again. Motivated not only by the global pandemic which forced most transactions into the digital realm but also by the escalation of armed conflicts around the world, cybercriminals aligned themselves with different geopolitical interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Armed conflicts provide the perfect environment for criminal activity. The same applies in cyberspace. For the first time, financially motivated actors and ideological actors found common ground under a new operational structure: State-aligned cyber groups such as Killnet, CONTI, and Lockbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Era solo darle un peque\u00f1o giro al modelo de negocio: ya no busco aleatoriamente a m\u00ed v\u00edctima, sino que lo hago alineado a determinados intereses geopol\u00edticos. \u00bfQu\u00e9 ganaron con esta postura? Mucho, ya que los nuevos \u201caliados\u201d no van a perseguirlos (\u201cel enemigo de mi enemigo es mi amigo\u201d) y las v\u00edctimas ven el ciberataque como una acci\u00f3n deliberada guiada por estos intereses. \u00bfEstamos ante ataques de falsa bandera? Probablemente. Negocio redondo para la ciberdelincuencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The business model shifted slightly:\nThey no longer select random victims they attacked in alignment with geopolitical objectives.\n
\nWhat did they gain?\n
\nA lot. Their new \u201callies\u201d would not pursue them (\u201cthe enemy of my enemy is my friend\u201d) and victims interpreted attacks as politically directed, not purely criminal. Some may even be false-flag operations.\n
\nA perfect business model for cybercriminals.\nIs there a light at the end of the tunnel?\nUnfortunately, no not today. Hope does not match reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What can Uruguayan companies do in this environment?\nWe do have one advantage: time. If we can slow attackers down, they are likely to move on to easier victims.\nFor that reason, it is appropriate to quote the movie title:\n\u201cNever retreat, never surrender.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLos malos est\u00e1n haci\u00e9ndose muy buenos, y est\u00e1n mejorando…\u201d esto formulaba el director de cibercrimen del FBI el pasado noviembre de 2023. La ciberdelincuencia ha evolucionado y lo ha hecho a un nivel mayor que las fuerzas que deben combatirlo. \u00bfLa causa? Varias.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ciberseguridad"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n