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Cops Are Just Trolling Cybercriminals Now
Police are using subtle psychological operations against ransomware gangs to sow distrust in their ranks—and trick them into emerging from the shadows.
These nascent psyops include efforts to erode the limited trust the criminals have in each other, driving subtle wedges between fragile hacker egos, and sending offenders personalized messages showing they’re being watched. In February, a global law enforcement operation, led by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), infiltrated the LockBit ransomware group, which authorities say has extorted more than $500 million from victims, and took its systems offline. “These are messages for people who maybe are on the edge of deciding to participate.” Within the sprawling cybercrime ecosystem, there’s not much trust between thieves who can con each other out of millions of dollars, but reinforcing and amplifying the divisions has the potential to make it harder to organize efficient criminal enterprises.
Or read this on Wired