For the last 6 years my colleagues and I have been tracking the activities of the cyber-mercenaries we call Dark Caracal. In this time we have observed them make a number of hilarious mistakes which have allowed us to gain crucial insights into their activities and victims. In this talk we will discuss the story of Dark Caracal, the mistakes they have made, and how they have managed to remain effective despite quite possibly being the dumbest APT to ever exist.

DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, security researchers, students, and hackers with a general interest in software, computer architecture, hardware modification, conference badges, and anything else that can be "hacked". The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions (known as hacking wargames). Contests held during the event are extremely varied, and can range from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection to finding the most effective way to cool a beer in the Nevada heat.

Tracking the Worlds Dumbest Cyber-Mercenaries

Conference: Defcon 31

Authors: Cooper Quintin Senior Staff Technologist – EFF

Abstract

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