United States penalises three 'hackers for hire' for unlawful activities

US Department of Justice has penalized three “hackers for hire” working for a company in the UAE for the “benefit of Abu Dhabi”. As a part of the legal settlement in the US, all three suspects would have to pay a sum of $1.68m. All three, the US Department of Justice said, provided “zero clicks” computer hacking services to the UAE Company that could “compromise a device without any action by target.”

Cybercrime in the US has seen a dramatic surge in the last few months with millions affected just two months ago after Miami based Kaseya Technologies was compromised by a Russian hackers group. However, unlike the aforementioned, this hacking was to aid the Emirati administration keep a vigil, according to Al Jazeera. Later in a statement, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko called for the prosecution of the suspects-Marc Aier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gerikcke- and added that they were warned by the law enforcement.

“Hackers-for-hire and those who otherwise support such activities in violation of US law should fully expect to be prosecuted for their criminal conduct. Left unregulated, the proliferation of offensive cyber capabilities undermines privacy and security worldwide,” he asserted. 

The Kaseya Attack

On July 2, a computing network management tool by Kesaya, a Florida based IT Firm was targeted into a fresh series of cyber-attacks. Kaseya describes itself as a leading provider of IT and security management services to small- and medium-sized businesses, meaning an attack would make them targets going into the Independence Day holiday weekend in the United States. "We are in the process of investigating the root cause of the incident with an abundance of caution but we recommend that you immediately shut down your VSA server until you receive further notice from us," Kaseya said in a message shared on social media. " Later, hackers suspected to be behind ransomware attack on Kaseya demanded US$70 million to restore data they are holding, according to a posting on a dark website. The demand was posted on a blog typically used by the REvil cybercrime gang, a group of Russia-based hackers counted amongst the world’s most prolific extortionists. 

Representative Image: Unsplash