It has been reported that a group of professional Chinese hackers has been targeting and hacking into companies that run online gambling and online betting websites. According to reports published this week by cyber-security firms Talent-Jump and Trend Micro, hacks have been officially confirmed at gambling companies located in Southeast Asia, while unconfirmed rumors of additional hacks have also come from Europe and the Middle East. Researchers say hackers appear to have stolen company databases and source code, but not money, suggesting the attacks were espionage-focused, rather than cybercrime motivated.
It shouldn\’t come as a surprise to anyone that online gambling and betting sites are targets of hackers. After all, why do people rob banks? Because that\’s where the money is. Regardless of whether China’s Modus Operandi is to hack gamblers, there are several armies of government and ex-government employees with the ability and the motivation to do so. Attacking gambling sites, especially when ready-made cash sources such as banks are getting harder to crack is inevitable. And when you get caught robbing a brick and mortar bank you\’ll get the cuffs slapped on, the key is thrown away and 20 years later parole.
Now imagine in China or any country you do “good” work for your government on a government salary, and you see the opportunity to make money. Maybe you retire from military or public service, maybe you moonlight or maybe you trade your skills to someone else in the dark ecosystem for other services. There is, after all, honor of-a-sort among hackers.
It’s not hard for a percentage of the workforce to take the opportunity to work with some colleagues from their day jobs or old jobs and go after the money floating around in the easiest targets. In all countries, money has value. We oftentimes have this image in our heads about people in hoodies or a military uniform with a single team or in the basement of a building with poor lighting and ventilation. And that very well could be the story in some places around the world. However, the reality is that there are thousands of people in any given, serious cybernation in many departments and agencies. Forget the image of hoodies, because these criminals work in offices, take lunch breaks and go home to see their families in the evening.