The dangerous and mysterious world of hackers

 The dangerous and mysterious world of hackers

The war is no longer fought only in the forests, mountains, and plains as before. Now the new battlefield is cyberspace.

That is why all the powers of the world are trying to strengthen their cyber power. Part of this effort is the hacking army.

However, no country in the world is openly saying that we are preparing a hacking army. But different countries have been preparing and practicing it for a long time.

Today we are going to tell you about the dangerous and mysterious world of hackers based in Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

Russia - Hacker's Hero

In the 1990s, Russian police were unaware of cybercrime. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, many Russian electrical engineers and mathematicians became unemployed.

At the same time, they began to explore the world of the Internet for a living. At the time, Russia was not very sensitive about cybersecurity.

Andrei Shoshnikoff, a Russian investigative journalist, said: "The hacking empire in Russia is being built by skilled unemployed people. He hacked banks, financial institutions, and sites of different countries and did not think of himself as less than a hero. '

At that time a magazine called Hackers was also published in Russia. Where they told their success stories.

At the time, it was a very different kind of magazine and had its own imprint on Russian hacking culture. Prominent hackers and cybercriminals of the time were somehow linked to Hackers Magazine.

Russia's FSB intelligence agency knew all about it. But the Russian government was thinking of taking advantage of the hackers instead of being angry with them.

According to journalist Andrei, even the head of FSB has known many hackers privately. At the behest of the Russian government, Russian hackers launched a cyberattack on neighboring Estonia in 2007 and hacked hundreds of its sites.

A year later, another neighboring country, Georgia, was hacked by the Russian government. At the time, he was not a freelance hacker, but a government hacker.

They were officials from Russia's intelligence service. The Russian government has said it does not rely heavily on freelance hackers.

And he set up the front of the government hair. He had given hacking training to the employees of the intelligence agency.

Today, Russia is considered to have the strongest cyber army. Russian hackers have been accused of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election.

The White House, NATO, and Western media are also being targeted by Russian hackers. The name of a special group has been heard a lot in the ranks of Russian hackers. Whose name is 'Fancy Bear'. The group is believed to be run by Russia's military intelligence.

"Fancy Beer is actually an agent of the Russian Secret Service," says Andrei. The last time you look at Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation report on US election interference, you see the names of 12 people there.

They are all agents of the Russian Secret Service. Fancy beer hackers do this to present themselves as the emperor of the hacking world. '

Influenced by the Hollywood movie 'Matrix' in the 1990s, the foundations of hacking laid by Russian engineers have flourished today. But Russia is not the only player in this world of hacking.

2. Iran - Hacker mine

Karim Sajapore, an expert on Iran at the US think tank Carnegie Endowment, felt hacked one morning. At that time, when he asked a few of his friends who are top security experts in Google, they also confirmed that.

Karim has been the victim of hacking and his suspicions are rife in Iran. You know, Iran is an old experienced player in the world of hacking.

As soon as the Internet was introduced in 1990, he began preparing his special groups for government attacks. In the early days of the Internet, he realized that the Internet had a special role and importance in controlling information.

Especially in the government, there is a dictatorial tendency. At the same time, the government began to understand that civil society is strengthened by the Internet and social media.

When the Green Movement broke out in Iran in 2009, the government used force and hackers to stop the protests. By hacking social media and email accounts, they were intimidated and threatened.

Then, for the first time, the Iranian government proved that the Internet is no less than a weapon. The war in Iran continues today. On the one hand, the government has a group that sees its enemy, and on the other, the cyber army, which is commanded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

When Iran began to demonstrate its power in cyberspace, sites like Twitter began to be hacked. He then declared himself a cyber army in Iran.

Iran's education system produces a large number of engineers and scientists. Most of them go to Europe and America.

Those who live in Iran are included in Iran's cyber army. They either join the Revolutionary Guard Cyber ​​Army or contribute to Iran's cyber operations as freelancers.

Iran is the third-largest cyber power in the world. The United States, China, Russia, and Israel are in the first place, followed by European countries.

For Iran, cyber-attacks are like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the US and Israel continue to target him, while on the other hand, he continues to retaliate.

These battles have given Iran a lot of experience in the cyber world. In 2012, for example, Iran's oil industry was hit by a cyberattack, and all data was stolen from its hard drive.

Three months after learning of the attack, Iran launched a similar attack on Saudi Arabia. Then Saudi Arabia lost 30,000 computer data. Such cyber-attacks continue. Sometimes they come to the surface, sometimes they just hide.

3. North Korea - keyboard on paper

Compared to countries like China and Russia, North Korea has very little information. But we must all know that the RGB is behind North Korea's cybercrime.

Priscilla Mariucci, a cyber hacking expert at Record Future, previously worked for the US intelligence service for many years. Where he monitored North Korea.

"The system they created in the 1990s is still working today," she said. It shows math and engineering skills in children between the ages of 13 and 14. Then they are sent to a special school to hone their skills. '

Then they are admitted to two special universities. From there, they join either a software engineer or North Korea's cyber army.

In the early days, cybersecurity training in North Korea was deplorable. Due to the lack of computers and the internet, children used to learn by making paper keyboards.

Only later did they get a chance to touch the actual keyboard. North Korea then sent its students to study in China or the rest of Asia.

So that they can get the latest knowledge and skills of information technology. Some of these students live in China or other countries and from there contribute to hacking their country. By doing this, they send money to their country.

According to Moriuchi, young people involved in North Korea's cyber army are considered warriors and have a great reputation in society. It is very difficult to know their number.

But according to one estimate, the number of cyber hackers there is between two thousand and three thousand. In this way, North Korea has maintained its presence in the cyber world.

Through this, he also compensates for the financial sanctions imposed on him. Like the nuclear operation, North Korea has a presence in the field of hacking and warns the world not to take it lightly.

North Korea's skilled hackers have caused millions of dollars in cyberattacks on the world's largest banks.

Cryptocurrency mining

Maya Horowitz, a cyber expert at Checkpoint, an Israeli cybersecurity company, says: "It's not hard to find clues. Because every criminal leaves his evidence. So when a matter is resolved, tears of joy flow from my eyes. '

Usually, most of the IT professionals are behind the cyber attack. They work in a team of three or four people.

One seeks prey, another makes access, and another steals. Such an operation can be carried out in a very safe way just like any other operation.

They work together as a team, even in the most opposite corners of the world. They know each other by nicknames. According to Maya, most of the hackers connect with each other through a messaging app called Telegram.

Telegram is an encrypted messaging service that is very popular among extremists and criminals. Cybercriminals continue to help each other in their work. They also work with each other by selling code and software.

Cybercrime has now become a whole business. Here, too, new ways to grow your business are being explored every day.

"Cryptocurrency is being used in today's trend," says Maya. Cryptocurrency is a kind of virtual money. Criminals in the cyber world are targeting currencies like Bitcoin these days. Virtual currency can be converted into money. '

When a cybercriminal launches a cyber attack on a mobile or computer, we have no clue. Sometimes our device gets too hot and consumes too much electricity.

Iceland consumes more electricity than it needs daily for cryptocurrency and online data processing. But in Iceland, that work is done by the developer and it becomes legal.

In general, we have not heard of a burglary in a thief's house. But this is normal in the cyber world. Hackers from one country steal information by targeting hackers from another country.

Every country in the world puts cybersecurity experts at the forefront of the defense to protect its confidential information. Just as mercenaries can't win the battlefield, freelance hackers alone can't win the cyber world.

That is why many countries around the world are recruiting cyber experts. In this cyber world, whoever has a lot of soldiers, victory is sure to be his.