DeepSec 2020 Talk: Journey Into Iranian Cyber Espionage – Chris Kubecka
Welcome to the new Cold War in the Middle East. In 2012, Iran’s first Shamoon attacks almost crashed every world economy, nearly bringing the world to its knees. Since then, the game of spy vs. spy has intensified. Join Chris on a 2.5 year Iranian espionage campaign attempting to recruit her for the most innocent of jobs; teaching critical infrastructure hacking with a focus on nuclear facilities. A journey of old school espionage with a cyber twist. Bribery, sockpuppets, recruitment handlers, propaganda VVIP luxury trip mixed with a little IOT camera revenge.
We asked Chris a few more questions about his talk.
Please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk.
- Governments friendly, friendemy and enemy actively recruit for cyber offensive talent
- Finding the correct place to report active espionage and illegal bribery can be a challenge
- Some countries lack intact technology laws which leave their entire country open to surveillance and attack due to a lack of qualified expert voices
- Sanctioned governments try and do operate outside of sanctions
- Revenge is a dish best served over exploitable IOT
How did you come up with it? Was there something like an initial spark that set your mind on creating this talk?
I thought the talk would be relevant to show other security researchers what the real world of cyber espionage looks like.
Why do you think this is an important topic?
Because it’s about how ethical security researchers can avoid getting caught up in illegal activities that can send you to jail or get you killed
Is there something you want everybody to know – some good advice for our readers maybe?
Sit back and enjoy a little taste of espionage.
A prediction for the future – what do you think will be the next innovations or future downfalls when it comes to your field of expertise / the topic of your talk in particular?
Increases of state sponsored attacks, focusing on critical infrastructure. Cyber code wars.
Chris is the founder and CEO of HypaSec, she has practical and strategic hands-on experience in several cyber warfare and cyber terrorism incidents. Previous USAF aviator and USAF Space Command. Detecting and helping to halt the July 2009 Second Wave attacks from the DPKR against South Korea and helping to recover and reestablish international business operations after the world’s most devastating cyber warfare attack Shamoon in 2012. Leading the incident management when the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Netherlands was hacked in 2014 which involved the ISIS terrorist group, the city of The Hague, all embassies in the city, negotiating and discovery of evidence of a diplomatic insider that saved over 400 dignitaries lives.